About Zig Ziglar
Hilary Hinton "Zig" Ziglar (; November 6, 1926 – November 28, 2012) was an American author, salesman, and motivational speaker. == Biography == === Early life and education === Zig Ziglar was born prematurely in Coffee County, Alabama, to John Silas Ziglar and Lila Wescott Ziglar. He was the tenth of 12 children, and the youngest boy. In 1931, when Ziglar was five years old, his father took a management position at a Mississippi farm, and his family moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi, where he spent most of his early childhood. The next year, his father died of a stroke, and his younger sister died two days later. He described his mother, who was left to raise the family alone, as having only a fifth-grade education "but who without a doubt graduated magna cum laude from the university of life" and someone who had a saying for everything. Between 1943 and 1945, he participated in the Navy V-12 Navy College Training Program at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. During this time, Ziglar met his wife, Jean Abernathy. == Career == === First job === Ziglar dropped out of college in 1947 and moved to Lancaster, South Carolina, where he took up a job as a salesman with the WearEver Cookware company. During the first two years, he and his wife struggled financially, but he kept an optimistic attitude.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.