Andrew J. McKelvey, who bought The Monster Board and Online Career Center Web sites and turned them into the international recruitment powerhouse Monster.com / Monster Worldwide, has died at 74.

            McKelvey was battling pancreatic cancer; he was allowed to settle a criminal prosecution earlier this year without conviction because of his ill health.

            McKelvey started a yellow pages advertising business, Telephone Marketing Program, in 1967. It grew internationally and became known as TMP Worldwide. In 1995, McKelvey acquired both OCC and Monster Board for TMP. He and Monster Board founder Jeff Taylor later merged them into Monster.com. Until 2006, McKelvey owned a controlling interest in the company, which became known as Monster Worldwide in 2003. He gave up control and sold his stock after allegations he backdated stock options improperly.

            Through the McKelvey Foundation and other charitable endeavors, he funded a number of educational institutions and scholarships to poor youngsters, especially in the field of entrepreneurship.

            “Entrepreneurs take advantage of what many people don’t even have the vision to realize or the dedication to pursue,” he’s quoted on the foundation’s Web site. “From education, to the arts, to the business world, entrepreneurs have greatly impacted the world in a variety of ways throughout history. Many have built empires from scratch. Others have risked much in pursuit of a dream. All have managed to dramatically change both their own lives – and ours. Whatever it is, it’s made you realize just how possible the impossible may actually be. All you need is the right mind-set and what I feel is the secret to success: timing.”

           More about McKelvey in this Associated Press obit.