Stanley Louis "Stan" Klos (born January 18, 1954), is a historian, author, entrepreneur, and former Italian basketball player. Klos was the United States Senate Republican Nominee, who challenged Robert C. Byrd in 1994.^[1]. He currently resides in Florida with his eight children.

Historic Preservationist

Klos was born in New York City, New York to Louis A. Klos, founder of the Catholic Business Education Association, and Eileen Hundertmark, mother of eight children who attended Pace College in NYC. Klos began his journey into historical preservation in his early teens acquiring antiques at flea markets in the 1960s. In the 1970s he turned his pursuits to automobiles, acquiring and restoring classic cars.

In the 80's and 90’s, Klos began preserving historic properties with 32 to his credit including: 1774 Revolutionary War Tavern – Millstone, NJ; 1790 Imlay Mansion – Allentown, NJ ^[2]; 1845 McCullough Mansion and Estate – Ohio County, WV ^[3]; 1870 Coachman Estate, tabby construction, Cedar Key - Florida; 1887 Spring Lake Hotel – Spring Lake, NJ ^[4]; 1887 Presbyterian Stone Church – Carnegie, PA ^[5], 1870 Adams County Court House Annex Building Gettysburg – PA ^[6]; 1898 Edinburg Village - West Windsor, NJ ^[7];1904 Victoria ^[8] Vaudeville Theater – Wheeling, WV ^[9]; 1904 Mason Building – Carnegie, PA; 1917 Honus Wagner Home ^[10] -- Carnegie, NJ; University Place, Princeton– NJ.  1915 West Virginia Bank Building, ten story terra cotta - Wheeling, WV ^[11].

In the 1990s, Klos began assembling collections of rare historical documents displaying the primary sources online at hundreds of URLs named after notable persons (bejaminfranklin.org), places (fortpitt.org) and events (worldwarII.org). The rare documents were re-formed into award winning exhibits that are featured at museums, universities, and special events all across the United States. Venues have included two National Political Conventions^[12], MGM Grand Las Vegas Hotel ^[13], James Madison’s Montpelier ^[14], Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, Clara Barton’s Home, the Carnegie Institute ^[15], NASA's Classroom of The Future , Waldorf=Astoria ^[16] Virginia, West Virginia and U.S. Capitols.

In 2004, Klos as a Board member of the James Monroe Foundation proposed they acquire and restore the family farm and birthplace of President James Monroe. On April 4th, 2005, the County of Westmoreland signed a 99 year lease with the Foundation and Klos was named Chairman of the James Monroe Birthplace Commission. ^[17] Under the stewardship of James Monroe Foundation's President G. William Thomas archaeologists from the College of William & Mary began the site study for restoration in 2006. ^[18].

Klos was co-founder of The James Monroe Scholarship Award established in 2001 by the James Monroe Foundation. ^[19] The James Monroe Scholarship Award is an annual essay contest for juniors and seniors enrolled in a public, private or home-school high school programs. Klos donated the URL, JamesMonroe.Org and the initial funding for the Foundation's first Scholarships. The James Monroe High School Scholars essays are exhibited online at JamesMonroe.org. James Monroe Scholars, Award winning students, have gone on to attend Princeton University, Yale University, University of Virginia, College of William & Mary, James Madison University, Virginia Tech and other fine schools across the nation where they continue their studies as proud Monroe Scholars. All 1st, 2nd and 3rd place essays are posted online at jamesmonroe.org ^[20]

Klos is the co-founder of Dinosaur Safaris, Inc. located in Shell, Wyoming ^[21]. In 2001 Klos gifted his interest in the company to his eight children ^[22]. The company is headed by Paleontologist Bob Simon. Under Simon's stewardship four fully articulated dinosaurs -- Camarasaurus, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, and Camptosaurus -- have been discovered ^[23].

Author

President Who? Forgotten Founders ^[24] and The Rise of The U.S. Presidency and Forgotten Capitols are  a landmark works that unravel the complex birth of the U.S. Presidency ^[25] while providing captivating biographies on four Presidents of the Continental Congress and ten Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled serving before George Washington from 1774-1788.^[26] Peppered with pre-1789 letters, resolutions, treaties, and laws signed as President of the United States, the book relies heavily on primary sources as proofs the office existed before 1789.^[27] The second book highlight 11 building in eight different towns/cities that served as the Capitol of the United Colonies and States of America. The research has resulted in:

• Klos' selection as the keynote speaker for the 2003 tomb rededication and re-interment of Samuel Huntington as the first President of the United States under the Articles of Confederation in 1781.^[28]
• The Smithsonian Institute’s “The American Presidency, A Glorious Burden” ^[29] including the book's primary resources in the internationally acclaimed exhibit.
• An expert appearance on the Discovery Channel program, “Unsolved History: Plots To Kill Lincoln”. ^[30]
• U.S. News & World Report utilizing the work in the August 6, 2006 cover story, “Washington? Get In Line." ^[31]
• The founding of a U.S. Presidential Museum in Samuel Huntington’s home town honoring the 1774-1788 Confederation Period has received the endorsements of the Norwich Historical Society, Yale University, Connecticut State Historian, Connecticut Congressional Delegation, City of Norwich and Connecticut‘s Governor. ^[32]
• President Who? Forgotten Founders' research is also spotlighted in the May-June 2007 “History Channel Magazine.”
• A Federal Case against The Honorable Secretary Henry Paulson seeking a Writ of Mandamus to include the Constitution of 1777 Presidents in the 2005 Coin Act minting of Presidential $1.00 coins.

Entrepreneurial Highlights

• Transformational Change – acquired the RE/MAX master franchise with declining sales and expertly managed a marketing mix increasing commission revenue from $240K to $36 million in twelve years. ^[33]
• Corporate Financing - envisioned, launched and successfully secured millions of dollars in bonds and/or financing on numerous residential and commercial development projects in New Jersey,^[34] Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.^[35] 
• New Business Start-up - established an innovative internet e-Education Company, Virtualology.com, in 1999 with page views topping 70,000 per day by its 4^th year.^[36]
• Capitalist Preservationist – acquired, preserved and profitably re-developed 32 historically significant properties ranging from Vaudeville Theaters to Revolutionary War Taverns.^[37]
• Business Development and Sales Leadership –  one of a select group of RE/MAX Regional Owners, 1986 – 1999, who masterminded their expansion into world largest real estate sales force.^[38]

Politics

• 1992-1994 West Virginia Republican State Committee  Finance Chairman - turned around the Republican State Committee finances by changing its business model and campaign strategy. 

• 1994 Republican Nominee U.S. Senate - won the West Virginia Republican Party's nomination for U.S. Senate  61% to 39%. Campaigned as a "sacrificial lamb" against Robert C. Byrd participating in the Republican U.S. Senatorial Committee’s strategy to re-capture a majority in the United States Senate in 1994. Strategy was successful as Robert C. Byrd (D), although elected 290,495, 69% to Stan Klos (R), 130,441, 31%, spent $1,550,354 to Klos' $267,165. ^[39] Additionally the Democratic Party invested over $1 million in that State's U.S. Senatorial Campaign to the Republican Party's $15,000. The GOP captured a majority in the U.S. Senate. The highlights of the campaign included the hiring of an actor to play Robert C. Byrd who toured in staged Statewide Debates when the incumbent refused Klos's invitation for a series of formal Senatorial Debates. The campaign also organized successful demonstrations against the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Health Care Bus as it traveled through West Virginia in the summer of 1994. Senator Byrd, while the bill was being debated on the Senate floor rose suggesting the brakes be put on approving National Health Care measure while the bus was completing its tour in WV. To Klos's credit, the campaign did not implement the "Death by a Thousand Cuts" plan proposed by strategists which was later acknowledged in speeches given and letters written by U.S. Senator Byrd. ^[40]

• 1996 State Treasurer Nominee - - uncovered a system to circumvent the West Virginia State Constitution's ban on investing State funds into equities during the campaign. Klos challenged the legality of the “West Virginia Trust Fund” which was declared unconstitutional by the West Virginia Supreme Court on February 25, 1997. ^[41] The following year an amendment to the State Constitution allowing equity investments by a State Board was proposed and passed by a 71 to 29% margin. The Wheeling News Register summed up Klos’ efforts in their Editorial "Klos Took A Stand Based on What is Right" ^[42]

Basketball

NCAA I College Basketball

• 1972-1974 St. Peter's College - Center/Forward
• 1975-1977 Idaho State University - Center/Forward

West region

International Basketball Federation ^[43]

Klos played for Italy's Amaro Harrys Bologna^{[44] [45]} of the Italian Basketball Association^[46]. He also was the Captain of the United States Basketball Team which participated in European International Tournaments in 1979.^[47]

References