William J. “Bill” Bowerman (1911 - 1999)

Coach, Co-founder of Nike, Inc. Born in Portland and raised in Fossil, a town in eastern Oregon, and in Medford. He was a quarter-miler and a football blocking back at the University of Oregon and was accepted to medical school after graduating in 1934. Instead he became the track and football coach at Medford High […]

Francis Bouygues (1922 - 1993)

Architect and Television businessman. Founder of major construction business which bears his name, and also has extensive interests in television.

Aristide Boucicaut (1810 - 1877)

Businessman, creator of the shop “Le Bon Marché.”

Jabez Bostwick (1830 - 1892)

Businessman. He was one of the founders and original partner of Standard Oil Company, serving as  Secretary-Treasurer of the Standard Oil Trust. He died while trying to rescue horses from a stable fire on his estate.  Family links:  Spouse:  Helen C. Ford Bostwick (____ – 1920)  Children:  Frances Evelyn Bostwick Voronoff (____ – 1921)*  Albert […]

Robert Bosch (1861 - 1942)

Industrialist, Inventor. Founder of Robert Bosch GmbH, the world’s largest supplier of auto parts. Born near Ulm, he attended a technical school near his home and then apprenticed as a mechanic. He worked in this trade for a number of companies, including Edison. In 1896 he founded the company that eventually bore his name. The […]

Gail Borden, Jr (1801 - 1874)

Businessman, Philanthropist, Inventor. He envisioned food concentrates as a means of safeguarding the human food supply, and was the first to develop a commercial method of condensing milk. The dairy company founded by him (renamed Borden, Incorperated, in 1968) expanded and diversified to become a sizable corporation operating in many areas of business. In 1836 […]

Paul Bonwit (1862 - 1939)

Businessman. He founded the former department store Bonwitt Teller in New York City.  Family links:  Spouse:  Rebecca Woolf Bonwit (1869 – 1934)*  Children:  Harold Woolf Bonwit (1896 – 1950)*  Walter Bernard Bonwit (1901 – 1984)* *Calculated relationship

Charles Anson Bond, Sr (1873 - 1943)

Businessman, Columbus Mayor. Founder and Owner of Bond Clothing, recognized as one of the first chain stores catering to men.  Served as Mayor of Columbus, Ohio from 1908 to 1909. He was said to have made three fountunes during his lifetime and was the consumate salesperson.  His first wife, Blanche Leona Hull, died as a […]

George Boldt (1851 - 1916)

Businessman. As president of Waldorf-Astoria Hotel Company, he is the person most responsible for the modern American luxury hotel. He made the name synonymous with elegance.  Family links:  Spouse:  Louisa Augusta Kehrer Boldt (1860 – 1904)* *Calculated relationship

Hector Boiardi (1897 - 1985)

Businessman/Entrepreneur. A native of Piacenza, Italy, he was a world renowned chef known for his many Italian dishes. Known affectionately as ‘Chef Boyardee’ he founded his food franchise of products with his wife Helen. He became a food prodigy by age 11, in his native Italy, but later emigrated to New York City in 1915, […]

Helen Boehm (1920 - 2010)

Businesswoman. Called the “Princess of Porcelain”, she was co-founder of a Trenton, New Jersey, company producing high-end figurines which have been seen the world over. Born Elena Francesca Stephanie Franzolin, she was trained as a dressmaker and later as an optician. Married to veterinary assistant Edward Boehm in 1944, she joined with her husband in […]

Orison Blunt (1815 - 1879)

Inventor, Businessman. He went to sea at 14, made several voyages, and settled in New York City, New York. Within a few years he and a fellow gunsmith’s apprentice started their own business as firearms dealers, which made Blunt one of New York’s wealthiest men, enabling him to expand his interests to real estate, insurance […]

Nathan J. Blumberg (1894 - 1960)

Motion Picture Executive. Born in New York City, Blumberg was an adviser with the CBS Broadcast group when Universal Pictures owner Carl Laemmle hired him to head the studio’s management and finance departments in the mid-1930s. With his leadership and guidance for production manager Cliff Work, he made Universal Pictures a first run market with […]

Joseph Bernard Bloomingdale (1842 - 1904)

Businessman. He founded the Bloomingdale’s Department Store chain.  Family links:  Parents:  Benjamin Bloomingdale (1813 – 1896)  Hannah Weil Bloomingdale (1813 – 1876)  Spouse:  Clara Koffman Bloomingdale (1852 – 1943)  Children:  Rosalie Bloomindale Sperry (1876 – 1957)*  Siblings:  Fannie Bloomingdale Myers (1838 – 1897)*  Lyman Gustave Bloomingdale (1841 – 1905)*  Joseph Bernard Bloomingdale (1842 – 1904) […]

Neville Blond (1896 - 1970)

British industrialist. Blond was the first chairman of the English Stage Company (1955) and largely responsible for the rebirth the following year of London’s Royal Court Theatre. He was in charge of the financial management of the Royal Court and remained chairman of the English Stage Company until his death.

Meyer Blinder (1921 - 2004)

Businessman. The son of a Brooklyn candy store owner from Kiev, Russia, he was cofounder of Blinder Robinson and Company, a now defunct penny stock brokerage firm. After returning from military service during World War II where he earned a Purple Heart in Normandy, France, he started a photo-supply business and later joined his brother […]

Alden Joseph “The Colonel” Blethen (1845 - 1915)

Newspaper Publisher. Born in Knox, Waldo County, Maine, he began his career as a school teacher and attorney. He received his formal education from Wesleyan Seminary and College in 1868, and a Masters degree from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine in 1872. From 1869 to 1873 he served as principal of the Abbott family school […]

Valentine Blatz (1826 - 1894)

Businessman, Beer Magnate. Valentin Blatz, born to Casper Blatz, a brewer, in Miltenberg am Main, Bavaria, Germany, attended municipal schools until age 14 when he began an apprenticeship in his father’s brewery. He began in 1844, to acquire additional experience at breweries in Augusburg, Wurzburg and Munich until 1848 when he emigrated from Bavaria to […]

Bill Blass (1922 - 2002)

Designer. Born William Ralph Blass in Fort Wayne, Indiana to a part-time dressmaker and a traveling hardware salesman. Blass’s father committed suicide when Blass was five. At 15, Blass began selling sketches of evening gowns for $25 each to a New York manufacturer. At 17 he left home to attend fashion school in New York. […]

Walter Blair (1830 - 1888)

Western Entrepreneur. Born in Vermont, he was a dairy farmer who came to California, during the gold rush in 1850. Un-successful with his gold endeavors, he bought over six hundred acres in the Piedmont hills area. There he built a hotel, amusement park, dairy farm and a rock quarry near the town. He also created […]

Thomas Blackwell (1804 - 1879)

Entrepreneur. Co-founder of Crosse & Blackwell. He met Edmund Crosse in 1819 when they were apprentices at the same firm, West and Wyatt, which produced pickles, sauces and condiments. They bought out their employer in 1829 and renamed the company after themselves, expanding their line of goods by purchasing new recipes from top chefs. Two […]

Charles Reed Bishop (1822 - 1915)

Businessman. Confidant of Hawaiian kings, husband of Princess Bernice.

Ghanshyam das Birla (1894 - 1983)

Indian Businessman. He was the wealthiest man in India. Mahatma Ghandi was assassinated in the gardens of his home.

Clarence Birdseye (1886 - 1956)

He invented the process to deep-freeze foods and was one of the founders of General Foods Corporation. (bio by: Ron Moody)  Family links:  Spouse:  Eleanor Gannett Birdseye (____ – 1977)Cause of death: Unknown

Milton Harry Biow (1892 - 1976)

Advertising genius. He developed the concept of the “$64,000 Question” for television. He also created the slogan “Call for Philip Morris.”  Family links:  Parents:  Harry Louis Biow (1865 – 1931)

Joseph Patterson Binns (1905 - 1980)

Entrepreneur, hotel executive. Binns rose from room clerk in an Atlantic City hotel (1928-1931), to vice-president of Hilton Hotels Corporoation (1946-1962), in which post he served as general manager of the Palmer House, Chicago (1946-1949), and executive vice-president and general manager of the Waldorf-Astoria, New York (1949-1961). He was also president and chief executive officer […]

Lonnie “Ted” Binion (1943 - 1998)

Casino magnate. His family started The Horseshoe Casino in downtown Las Vegas.  Family links:  Parents:  Benny Binion (1904 – 1989)  Francis Jane Henderson Binion (1916 – 1994)  Sibling:  Barbara Shirlen Binion Fechser (1934 – 1983)*  Lonnie Binion (1943 – 1998) *Calculated relationship

Benny Binion (1904 - 1989)

Businessman. He was the founder of “Binion’s Horseshoe Casino”, and the father of Ted Binion, who later ran the casino, and Becky Binion Behan, the current owner. He came to Las Vegas in 1946, became part owner of the Las Vegas Club for a short time, then opened the Horseshoe in 1951. He later bought […]

Thomas W. Binford (1924 - 1999)

Pioneering civil rights leader, successful businessman and longtime fixture at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For decades, Binford was one of Indianapolis’ most influential men, serving as a founder and leader of myriad business, sports and civic institutions. He was cofounder of the Urban League of Indianapolis, chief steward of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and the […]

Sherman Billingsley (1900 - 1966)

Nightclub owner, ex-bootlegger, ruled with a velvet fist. The Stork Club was the epitome of glamor. The green canopy, blue-uniformed doorman with his whistle at the ready, the heavy bronze door swinging to admit only the chosen few while crowds of craning gawkers and autograph hunters tried to get a glimpse, of what today we […]