E. Joseph Cossman

E. Joseph Cossman, the brother-in-law of Milton Levine, was born in 1918. He attended high school in Braddock, PA, after which he spent several years in the Army as a soldier in WWII. After the war, Cossman bought the patent to the spud gun toy for $600. Capitalizing on the potato glut, Cossman sold 2 million spud guns in half a year. Based on his entrepreneurial success, Cossman developed a lecture series, “10 Step Entrepreneur Program,” and published several books. His book How I Made $1,000,000 in Mail Order sold more than 2 million copies in hardcover. Cossman died in 2002.