The following is an excerpt from an article that Nathan wrote that summarizes his view of life (Santa Barbara News-Press, letter to the editor “Replace the ill will with more good will” January 1, 1975):

“I am often asked how I was able to attain success in the face of so much misfortune..  The answer is very simple.  One must stay with a task and not give up no matter what the odds.  We are in a sense masters of our own fate, and as I see it, success still takes a little imagination and a lot of hard work.  There are no shortcuts or easy ways.”

“Having experienced the basest cruelties and indignities, I know what malevolence is and what it can do to a human being.  This would be a far better world if intolerance and discrimination against a people because of nationality, race or religion should suddenly disappear.”

The following is an exert from the article “America’s Amazing Success Machine” by the Business Roundtable, a non-profit association of chief executive officers of major U.S. companies, was submitted to the U.S. Senate (Congressional Record of the Senate, June 25, 1975, page 20687), that highlights Nathan Zepell’s  story of survival and success:

Is there an American dream? Inventor Nathan Zepell thinks so.  In fact, he says he’s living it - in a sun-flooded, spacious home on a mountainside overlooking Santa Barbara, Calif.  Chances are you have used one of Zepell’s creations.  More than 100 million of his pens have been sold under various names all over the world.

            But Zepell’s dream began with a nightmare.

It was the end of World War II. His name than: Nathan Zepelovitch. Home: Riga, Latvia. Age: 29. Weight: 87 pounds. Last address: Buchenwald concentration camp. Family: all killed by the Nazis.  His house and his small furniture hardware factory: destroyed in the war.

In 1949, Zepell arrived in the United States – in his head the ideas he had nurtured since his teens to improve man’s writing instruments.  Worn and hungry, the immigrant walked the streets of New York, bewildered by waiting endlessly in outer offices.  Initially, he knew only two words of English – “all right.”  But things weren’t all right. Time after time, representatives of pen companies told him that there wasn’t a new idea about pens not already checked out.  There were already 10,000 pen patents registered in Washington, D.C., including the original ballpoint patent of 1886. “Give this up, Nathan,” an attorney friend told him.  “Get a job and start eating again.”

            But Zepell wouldn’t give up.  Finally, after nine years, Columbia Pen and Pencil Co. listened to the intense, handsome man with the idea for a ballpoint “pen that remembers.” To fasten the pen in your pocket, you had to snap the clip outward from the barrel, which automatically retracted the ballpoint, thus preventing ink stains on your shirt.

            The pen caught on almost immediately, and Nathan Zepell was on his way, “It wasn’t just a matter of the invention: it was a matter of America,” he says. “I could have invented the pen anywhere, but where else could I find a market like this and rewards so great?”  Now he has secured 28 patents including a flat plastic ballpoint that writes in two colors and serves as a bookmark.

            If Nathan Zepell’s life story is inspiring, it is also somewhat familiar.  The term “rags to riches” is a cliché to the average American – because it’s so true, so possible.  It’s the upward way traveled by many a person who has thought of some new or better way to benefit the public.  There’s no guarantee it will be easy, no guarantee against jolting failure; but our system’s inherent faith in people and their ideas has paid off – not just for the Thomas Edison and Henry Fords of the past, but for uncounted Nathan Zepells of today.

            The payoff ripples through the entire economy, affecting consumers, workers, everyone.  New ventures or inventions mean new factories, the creation of new jobs, new homes and businesses, and often a real enhancement of our way of life.  Ultimately, America’s economic magic depends on men who are free to create and are given the prospect of generous rewards.

Nathan was grateful to live in the best country in the history of the world!