|  Allen
Stolztfus, 1945-2002
Creator
of the Rosetta Stone Language Library
Allen
Stoltzfus was many things in his life prior to creating
the Rosetta Stone language learning software with his
unique Dynamic Immersion method. Of course Allen never
would have called it Dynamic Immersion, his vision was
to create a solution that removed the stress and hardship
from learning to speak a foreign language. He left
creation and pronunciation of the formal pedagogy to
the educators and marketers. Allen mixed the principle
of “necessity breeds innovation” with a
well developed business "gut" and to all of our benefit
he brought his little language software start-up
company from the garage to an estimated 4 million
world wide users.
LRO!
would like to honor both the visionary and the entrepreneur.
Allen is an inspiration to those of us who believe we
can “fix" the problem. Allen was not born a software
engineer and never really did get into the "tech" stuff.
Nor was he born President of a successful language software
company. In fact, like many of us, Allen was many
things before there was a Rosetta Stone Language Library.
An economics professor, a real estate agent and history
buff were all part of Allen’s portfolio. Allen
was a father, and remained so first and foremost, a
husband and a provider. Being an entrepreneur
is most challenging when responsible for providing for
a family. The time and effort and focus to succeed
must also be balanced with actually creating an income.
Allen was both proud and grateful that his entrepreneurial
labors ultimately provided support and security for
his family.
How
unlikely that the simple yet powerful vision of the
Rosetta Stone Language Library would be delivered to
us, not through a world renowned linguist or Silicon
Valley techno-wizard, but through a unique and rare
individual such as Allen. Like many entrepreneurs, Allen
was resistant to the so-called “right way”
to do things. What was unique about Allen was his ability
to engage what appeared to be faulty logic, and flawed
process, and somehow navigate to an operable and often
successful conclusion. It is an enduring paradox that
the practical simplicity and proven effectiveness of
Allen’s language software was the product of such
an unorthodox and seemingly uninformed business strategy.
While
Allen most certainly should be remembered by his family
as a dedicated provider, husband and father, and by
his company as a visionary leader, LRO! remembers the
unique treasures of his friendship. Allen invested his
time in people. Allen found unique comfort in the inadequacies
of others and maintained an uncanny ability to project
his acceptance of their shortcomings as a universal
acceptance that they too should accept for themselves.
Allen demonstrated the ability to challenge one’s
precepts and beliefs, somewhat caustically but usually
humorously, without destroying the bridge of mutual
acceptance. Allen actually brought significance and
value to being wrong.
The
world was positively upgraded by Allen’s time
among us. Four million people so far, and more every
day, will benefit from Allen’s unique vision.
For those who knew Allen and were fortunate to spend
significant time with him, we have the added treasures
of remembering his unique interpersonal tactics, his
attention to the details of our lives and the lessons
gleaned from his achievements and mistakes.
Thank
you Allen for your vision and your friendship.
LRO!
Editor |
