Person
Henry Steel Olcott
American military officer, journalist, lawyer and the co-founder and first President of the Theosophical Society
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (August 2, 1832 – February 17, 1907) is an American military officer, journalist, lawyer and the co-founder and first President of the Theosophical Society.
Olcott is the first well-known American of European ancestry to make a formal conversion to Buddhism.
His subsequent actions as president of the Theosophical Society helpe create a renaissance in the study of Buddhism.
Olcott is considered a Buddhist modernist for his efforts in interpreting Buddhism through a Westernized lens.
Olcott is a major revivalist of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and he is still honored in Sri Lanka for these efforts.