About Bill W founder of AA
William Griffith Wilson (November 26, 1895 – January 24, 1971), also known as Bill Wilson or Bill W., was the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), a fellowship of 100,800 mutual aid groups world-wide of alcoholics helping other alcoholics achieve and maintain sobriety. In compliance with AA Twelfth Tradition of anonymity, Wilson is commonly known as "Bill W." or just "Bill." Wilson achieved sobriety on December 11, 1934, and maintained it throughout his remaining 36 years. Despite the success and celebrity afforded him by the accomplishments and growth of AA under his leadership, he continued to suffer from episodes of depression, the most serious of these between 1944 and 1955. In 1955 Wilson turned over control of AA to a board of trustees. In the years before his death he changed the makeup of the board, which was initially composed of a non-alcoholic majority, to trustees who were both recovered alcoholics and non-alcoholics, with the majority being recovered alcoholics. In keeping with his interest in spirituality, he experimented with other possible cures for alcoholism. These experiments included LSD, niacin (vitamin B3) and parapsychology as a means of inducing spiritual change. Wilson died of emphysema complicated by pneumonia in 1971. His wife, Lois Wilson, was the founder of Al-Anon, a group dedicated to helping the friends and relatives of alcoholics. In 1999 Time Magazine declared Wilson to be in the top 20 of the Time 100: Heroes and Icons who exemplified "courage, selflessness, exuberance, superhuman ability and amazing grace" in the 20th century.
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