Layman. Sam Moore was born in Beirut, Lebanon and arrived in the United States in 1950 to attend CBC. To pay for his schooling he began selling Bibles door to door. He later recruited other students who had a need to work their way through college. This was so successful that Royal Publishing emerged as a vehicle for his first Bible publishing venture in 1961. In 1969, he purchased Thomas Nelson Publishing. Thomas Nelson is the world's largest Bible publisher and a leader in religious book publishing. Through Bible and book publishing he is helping people know Christ and encouraging them to make Him known with their lives. Sam passed away in 2018.