By Michael Mooney, March, 2013
My father, Patrick Mooney, passed away peacefully on March 6, 2013.
He was a truly original thinker, a Renaissance man, a Bohemian and a person who loved knowledge so much that he went to 22 universities when I was growing up, just because there were so many things he was interested in studying.
From art to chemistry, Dad keenly studied all kinds of different things, even including metaphysics and mysticism.
As a young child we had science and learning going on in the house from Dad basically all day long - enlightening scientific things and lots of humor, because Dad was a lover of humor, especially the goofiest, slapstick comedy. (Jonathan Winters and the Three Stooges were favorites of his.)
When I was 14 he was my best friend, going on for some years.
I had frail health as a sugar-eating youth and, at 14 (in 1967), found "health foods" and started taking vitamins and the primitive dietary supplements that were available then - brewer's yeast, alfalfa, wheat germ, lecithin, low potency vitamins and the like - and doing the best I could in Omaha, Nebraska at that time, to eat natural and organic foods.
As my health increased, Dad found my turnaround fascinating and so he started studying nutrition and health with me.
With his degree in chemistry, he started teaching me the underlying biochemistry.
Our mutual passion for nutrition and health grew rapidly, so we went to lectures by nutritional pioneers and read every publication that was available, with Dad interacting with some of the nutritional pioneers, as a fledgling nutritional biochemist.
The niacin champion, Abram Hoffer, MD., Ph.D. and the vitamin C champion, Linus Pauling, Ph.D., were two of Dad's highly admired acquaintances.
When I was about 21, feeding back to him what he had instilled in me, I said, "Dad. Why don't we start out own company? We could be involved in the new research and help it get to the public more quickly. We could make products that we want that don't exist. We could improve the health of humanity."
Dad chimed in, "Yes, we'll start a non-profit vitamin research co-op, where the brightest minds will want to contribute to help humanity become more mentally and physically healthy."
He went on, "We'll help people get optimal nutrients potencies for wholesale cost. We will make multivitamin formulas that we want that no company makes, that are hypoallergenic, free from fillers, gluten-free, higher potency and balanced for optimal effects. We'll also share the science of healthy lifestyle techniques."
And so we did.
We made the first multivitamins in the world that were all-natural, gluten-free, hypoallergenic and free from fillers and at full research-level potencies.
(Note: Being gluten-free has become popular in the last several years, but we were gluten-free when our first products were made, when the company became a corporation, in 1977.)
That's how far ahead of the world my Father was.
He was an original thinker - a visionary, a biochemist, an engineer - who built a wing of the University of Nebraska at Omaha - and an altruist, whose main motivation in life became to improve the mental and physical health of humanity.
During our early years, Dad interacted with the world's most progressive nutritionally-oriented doctors and scientists and was given an award from the International College of Applied Nutrition for "Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Nutrition, June 1980."
He said, "If I can just affect one percent of the population, I can change the world."
And so this was our main corporate goal - to improve the health of as many people as possible.
Making money wasn't even a consideration.
So, when we created our first products they were (and still are), by far, the world's best buys in every category, because Dad was willing to put far higher nutrient potencies in a formula than any other company would dare to and then charge prices that are typically what low potency formulas cost.
His profit margin was half what most companies must have to be profitable, but he wasn't in it for money.
He had his sights set on bigger things.
His formulas featured optimal orthomolecular potencies that published medical journal studies show deliver optimal health effects, which we call anti-aging effects, because they can help to reduce unnecessary, accelerated or premature aging.
That was what my Dad set out to do, and that's what he accomplished before he left the Earth.
Right now, the company we created is set to deliver these kinds of products to the largest group of people imaginable.
Maybe that's why about a month before Dad passed away I heard something in his voice that I'd never heard before - a new feeling of calm.
He protected our company very carefully, because his father invented laundry detergent and then had it stolen by a big company, so Dad always remembered this and was cautious about protecting our company.
The new tone I heard in his voice was a calm sense of security.
It was like someone had been swimming in the ocean for 82 years looking for land and they finally found it.
And the land was lush with fruits and vegetables and sunshine.
This was because his company had finally cracked into the biggest markets so that we are primed to improve the health of many millions of people.
And so Dad could leave the Earth in peace, because his mission was accomplished.
His spirit lives on, helping us carry forth with our mission to make the world healthier.
God bless you, Dad.
You were truly one of a kind.
Your spirit lives on with us, working to make the world a healthier place.
Michael Mooney
Director of Research and Education
SuperNutrition
www.supernutritionusa.com
