The article in the New York Times published a lovely quote of his:

“ The entrepreneurial process is not just about new companies, capital, and jobs. It's also about fostering an ingenious human spirit and improving humankind, ” he once said.

“ We are in the midst of a silent revolution, a triumph of the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of humankind throughout the world. I believe its impact on the 21st century will equal or exceed that of the Industrial Revolution on the 19th and 20th. ”

The NEN community shares Prof. Timmons' belief and hopes.

A memorial service will be held at Babson College (Massachusetts, USA) honoring the life and legacy of Jeffry Timmons on Friday, June 20th at 10:30 am. For additional details regarding the memorial service, please email timmonsmemorial[at]babson.edu

For more information on Professor Timmons, please visit the press release.

BIOGRAPHY

Jeffry A. Timmons
Franklin W. Olin Distinguished Professor in Entrepreneurship, Babson College

Known internationally for his research, innovative curriculum development, and teaching in entrepreneurship, new ventures, entrepreneurial finance and venture capital, Jeff Timmons held simultaneous professorships at Babson and Harvard Business School. He returned to Babson full time, and in 1995 was named the first Franklin W. Olin Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship.

Timmons' friends and supporters endowed the Jeffry A. Timmons Professorship in the mid-1990s in recognition of his contributions to Babson College and to the field of entrepreneurship. His doctoral dissertation, "Entrepreneurial and Leadership Development in an Inner City Ghetto and a Rural Depressed Area (Harvard, 1971)" was the first use of the word "entrepreneurial" in a dissertation title. This dissertation subsequently became the basis of six articles in the Harvard Business Review, the first of which was "Black is Beautiful, Is It Bountiful?"

In 1984, Timmons collaborated with the Price Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies to launch the Price-Babson College Fellows Program, aimed at improving teaching and research by teaming faculty with highly successful entrepreneurs wishing to teach. Inc. magazine called him "The Johnny Appleseed of Entrepreneurship Education" and noted that the PBCFP "changed the terrain of entrepreneurship education."

Dr. Timmons served as a charter board member of the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in developing and implementing their mission and strategy. He is the creator of and dean of faculty emeritus for the Kauffman Fellows Program. He has provided leadership in developing teaching initiatives that assist Native Americans seeking economic self-determination and community development most notably through entrepreneurship education at the nation's several Tribal Colleges. In March 2006, Professor Timmons was the inaugural Circle of Friends Professor of the Day at Sitting Bull College.

In April 2006, he was appointed Chair, International Academic Steering Committee for National Entrepreneurship Research Center in the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.

Dr. Timmons has authored several books including the leading textbook New Venture Creation, 7th ed. (2007) along with the forthcoming 8th edition, 2008; Venture Capital at the Crossroads, with Babson colleague William D. Bygrave (1992); and the groundbreaking The Entrepreneurial Mind (1989). He has recently co-authored Business Plans That Work (2004) and How To Raise Capital: Techniques and Strategies for Financing and Valuing Your Small Business (2005) with Stephen Spinelli and Andrew Zacharakis. He has published more than 100 articles and papers in publications such as Harvard Business Review and Journal of Business Venturing, as well as numerous teaching cases.

Dr. Timmons has earned a reputation for "practicing what he teaches." For nearly forty years he has been immersed in the world of entrepreneurship as an investor, director or advisor in private companies and investment funds including Cellular One in Boston, New Hampshire and Maine; the Boston Communications Group; BCI Advisors, Inc.; Spectrum Equity Investors; Internet Securities, Inc.; Chase Capital Partners; Color Kinetics; and others. He served as a trustee at his alma mater, Colgate University from 1991-2000.

He lived on his 500-acre farm in New Hampshire with his wife and partner of 42 years, Sara, and winters at Bray's Island Plantation near Savannah, Georgia. He has twin daughters, two sons-in-law, and four grandsons.