John Wiley Jr. ’64

John Wiley Jr. ’64 has spent his life building both business and a career in altruism.

Following his own “tripod” formula for success, Wiley has dedicated his life to the foundations of service, family, and self-motivation. He began working with disadvantaged children when he was 14, and helped local elementary children while at Cornell. In his 30s, Wiley developed two farms to deal with teens who were acting out. For years, he was a regular at the Harmony Cafe, a meeting place for troubled youth.

Walking the walk comes easily to Wiley: “I like to take on something that can solve a problem or a need.”

Wiley founded Elipticon Wood Products, a millwork house for high-end housing and component parts in his hometown of Appleton, Wis. With his wife, he raised four children, including Ben Wiley ’92 and Ladd Wiley ’93. His current major service venture is serving as president of Power Flour International. “Millions of babies in third world countries die each year,” he says. “These children weaned too early are being fed solid foods because that is all that is available to them, but their bodies cannot properly digest it. Power flour uses natural malt enzymes to digest and liquefy the native starch-based cereals so severely malnourished babies can thrive.”

Basic barley malt, Power Flour “uses an enzyme to breakdown the complex carbohydrate molecules and provide energy. Even a small starving baby can drink it. We would never recommend it in place of mother’s milk, but sometimes it’s needed if the mother has died or is not available.”

Being tested in Uganda, Bolivia, and Ghana, the potential benefits are profound.

With seemingly limitless energy, Wiley has also been involved with the Winnebago Mental Health Hospital for a decade, heading a successful effort to keep the state from closing it down. In addition, he opened a receiving home for children in Winnebago county needing foster care. For 15 years, he served on the Appleton Salvation Army board, including three years of developing the homeless shelter.

His life of service has rendered many profound experiences, and he especially recalls one in Haiti in the 1980s. “We built a water pipeline 17 miles in the mountains and brought it down to the ocean. It was the second place Columbus landed in 1492, and he wrote that it was lush. Now the topsoil eroded and killed the coral reef. We brought water to about 10,000 people, which made the population come back. It was a remarkable project. It finished on time and budget and it’s still working 30 some years later.”

An economics major, Wiley was grateful for Professor Donald Cell. “He made me think about a lot of things I hadn’t thought about before. I was always interested in business and how it worked. He forced me to think.”

Stepping out of your comfort zone is the strongest advice this unfathomably selfless and generous Cornellian gives students today. “Whether with people in your community or the world community, it’s important to step out of your comfort zone,” he says. “I find that people are great. People are worth knowing. And they have purposes and goals and every person is valuable and all we need to do is give people a hand up and be involved.”