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'''John Sperling''' (born 1921) is an American billionaire who is credited with leading the contemporary for-profit education movement in the United States. His fortune is based on his founding of the for-profit [[Wikipedia:University of Phoenix|University of Phoenix]] for working adults in 1976.

==Ballot initiative activism==

Together with liberal billionaires [[George Soros]] and [[Peter Lewis]], Sperling has been a very active donor to ballot initiative campaigns to decriminalize marijuana.  Sperling has donated to over 17 ballot initiative campaigns in 11 different states to end marijuana prohibition.<ref>[http://www.nationalfamilies.org/legalization/jsperling.html ''Sperling: A Guide to the Drug-Legalization Movement'']</ref>

===Donations in 2008===

In 2008, Sperling has:

* Given $500,000 in support of [[California Proposition 5 (2008)]].

===Pre-2008===

Ballot measure campaigns to which Sperling has given in previous years include:

* [[Arizona Proposition 203 (2002)]], $1,323,716.<ref>[http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/committee.phtml?c=658 ''Follow the Money on Arizona Prop 203'']</ref>
* [[Arizona Proposition 107 (2006)]]. $91,000.<ref>[http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/contributor.phtml?d=117534945 ''Follow the Money on Prop 107'']</ref>
* [[California Proposition 36 (2000)]], $1,193,000.<ref>[http://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1013964&view=contributions&session=1999 ''Sperling donations to Yes on 36'']</ref>
* [[California Proposition 72 (2004)]], $150,000<ref>[http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/committee.phtml?c=1224 ''Follow the Money on Prop 72'']</ref>
* [[California Proposition 66 (2004)]], $500,000<ref>[http://www.followthemoney.org/database/StateGlance/committee.phtml?c=1201 ''Follow the Money on Prop 66'']</ref>
* [[Utah Initiative B (2000)]]<ref>[http://www.nationalfamilies.org/guide/UTBmoney.html ''A Guide to Drug-Related State Ballot Initiatives'']</ref>


John Sperling was born into a poor sharecropper family and spent several years as a sailor in the merchant marine, and even as a wandering 1950s beatnik. He received his undergraduate education at [[Wikipedia:Reed College|Reed College]], [[Oregon]], a master's from the University of California, Berkeley under the G.I. Bill, and then went on to attain a PhD in Economic History at [[Wikipedia:Cambridge University|Cambridge University]]. Before becoming an entrepreneur (at age 53), he taught as a tenured professor at San Jose State University. He was an activist with several liberal causes in the 1960s, building a powerful new California faculty union, and was part of several conflicts with authorities and university leaders of his experimental adult education schemes.

He is also the co-founder of [[Wikipedia:Genetic Savings & Clone|Genetic Savings & Clone]] of Sausalito, California. He spent seven years and more than $19 million trying in vain to clone a dog named Missy in a project called [[Wikipedia:Missyplicity|Missyplicity]]. A subproject of Missyplicity was called [[Wikipedia:CopyCat|Operation CopyCat]], which successfully created the first cat clone, named CC.

More recently Sperling has directed his attention toward extending the life span of human beings -- research into life extension technology or "biological immortality". Wired magazine reported in their February 2004 article John Sperling Wants You to Live Forever that his fortune is quickly approaching US$3 billion, and has plans to donate it to human biology research when he dies. If he does so, this would be the biggest private program ever devoted to human biology.

==External links==

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sperling John Sperling on Wikipedia]
* [http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/10/2004/LIR.jhtml?passListId=10&passYear=2004&passListType=Person&uniqueId=0348&datatype=Person Forbes profile of Sperling]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Ballot measure donors]]