Werner Erhard

American entrepreneurial guru, " a multi-million dollar merchandiser of enlightenment, the founder of "est" (Erhard Seminar Training) with a debut on 10/04/1971. His high-energy brand of instant salvation flourished in the mid-'70s, making him an equally instant multimillionaire. His organization spawned a network centered on the principles of transformation. A onetime used-car salesman, he studied the consciousness disciplines of east and west to integrate his own brand of group therapy workshops. It is reported that est attracted 500,000 people, including such public figures as actress Valerie Harper and singer John Denver. Much of the jargon of est became part of the culture of the "me generation," such as "getting it" and "creating your own space." In 1960, he left his first wife and four children in Philadelphia and changed his name so they could not find him. He claims that where their marriage failed, their relationship is now a success with forgiveness and profound mutual support. He fit into the California subcultures of human potential movements, pop psychology and eastern metaphysics. The story goes that he "got it" one day in an instant while stuck on a crowded freeway, the awareness that he was not his emotions and beliefs and intellect, but he was the creator and source of his experience. In 1960 he married Ellen Virginia Erhardt, who separated from him in September 1982 after 22 years of marriage and one son. Ellen Erhard later said in an interview that Werner's ego and public image were the most important things in the world to him, and that "children, money or whatever, are so far down it doesn't matter." In 1982, enrollment in est began dropping and the IRS claimed that Erhard owed $2 million in back taxes. The following year, his ex-wife Ellen sued for half of everything. When Erhard retired est in 1984, he came up with another program called "The Forum" which was pitched to people who wanted to "make it happen." It jumped the price from $475 for an est session to $595 for learning to "get a decisive edge in your ability to achieve." Since it began in January 1985, 100,000 people have gone through the Forum program. A handsome man with a raspy voice thickened by cigars, he is an executive in a sleek European jacket and power that extends well past his original est weekends. WE&A (Werner Erhard and Associates) projects gross revenues of $39 million in 1988. From 1984, Erhard also ran Transformational Technologies Inc, a management consultant firm that brings in an annual $25 million. The third leg of his organization is The Breakthrough Foundation, a nonprofit entity that works in the area of juvenile delinquency and in combating world hunger. In spite of his many critics who deride his quick-fix approach and resent being proselytized to continue taking expensive courses, his followers swear that his system works. "The shared goal," says manager Gary Arnstein, "is about opening of possibilities in people's lives." In January 1991, a memo from his Bay Area company recommended bankruptcy and his kids, in interviews, were telling the press horror stories of abuse. His daughter, Celeste, told a San Jose paper: "You never knew when he was going to go off and throw things or smack mom." Maybe he didn't really get it. Link to Wikipedia biography