Fuller, Millard, 1935–2009, American entrepreneur and philanthropist, b. Lanett, Ala., grad. Auburn Univ. (B.S., 1957), Univ. of Alabama Law School (LL.B., 1960). While in law school he and a fellow student cofounded a direct-mail, publishing, and real-estate business that grew and made them millionaires by the mid-1960s. Fuller and his wife, Linda Caldwell, who married in 1959, decided to use their wealth to build a new life centered around Christian principles and aimed at providing housing for the poor. After conducting building projects in Georgia and Zaire during the 1960s and 70s, the two returned to the United States and founded (1976) Habitat for Humanity International. Fuller used his fundraising and publicity skills to help Habitat grow and flourish, and in 2005 it reached its goal of enabling a million low-income people to become homeowners, having built houses in more than 100 countries. That year, after a dispute with Habitat's board of directors, the Fullers left the organization and founded a new one with similar aims, the Fuller Center for Housing. Fuller wrote several books including The Theology of the Hammer (1994).
See biography by B. B. Young (2007).
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