Henry Steel Olcott, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Henry Steel Olcott

Union United States Army officer

Date of Birth: 02-Aug-1832

Place of Birth: Orange, New Jersey, United States

Date of Death: 17-Feb-1907

Profession: writer, lawyer

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Leo

Colonel Henry Steel Olcott (2 August 1832 – 17 February 1907) was an American military officer, journalist, lawyer and the co-founder and first President of the Theosophical Society. Olcott was the first well-known American of European ancestry to make a formal conversion to Buddhism.
His subsequent actions as president of the Theosophical Society helped 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 was a major revivalist of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and he is still honored in Sri Lanka for these efforts.
Olcott has been called by Sri Lankans "one of the heroes in the struggle of our independence and a pioneer of the present religious, national and cultural revival".