Henri Torres (1891 - 1966)

Great french lawyer.

Vittorio Ghiberti (1970 - 1970)

Sculptor,  Entrepreneur.  The son of pioneer Renaissance artist Lorenzo Ghiberti.  Born in Florence,  Italy,  he studied sculpting and goldsmithing with his father and by 1437 was working as his assistant on the great “Gates of Paradise” for the Florence Baptistery.  He was closely involved in the casting and gilding of that masterpiece and Lorenzo made […]

Clyde Anderson Tolson (1900 - 1975)

Deputy Director Federal Bureau of Investigation.  He carried out the policies and directives of bureau boss J. Edgar Hoover for over forty years. Clyde Anderson Tolson was born in a rural area near Laredo, Missouri to farmer James W. Tolson and his wife.  He moved with the family to Cedar Rapids as his father gave […]

Lorenzo Ghiberti (1970 - 1455)

Sculptor.  His fame rests on the two sets of gilded bronze doors he created for the Baptistery of Florence,  Italy.  He worked on them for nearly 50 years.  The second set,  known as the “Gates of Paradise” (1425 to 1452),  is among the great masterpieces of Renaissance art.  Ghiberti was born in Florence,  and trained […]

J. D. Tippit (1924 - 1963)

The Dallas Police officer allegedly killed by Lee Harvey Oswald on the day of the Kennedy assassination.  Evidence fully indicates that Lee Harvey Oswald killed officer Tippit, but since Oswald was never brought to trial, it remains only an allegation.  Born J. D. Tippit in Clarksville, Texas, the oldest of six children to Edgar Lee […]

Mark Gertler (1891 - 1939)

Painter. Born in Spitalfields, London, Gertler was a pacifist and refused to support Britain’s involvement in the First World War. After the Battle of the Somme Gertler painted Merry-Go-round (1916). Considered by many art critics as the most important British painting of the First World War, Merry-go-round, shows a group of military and civilian figures […]

William Matthew “Bill” Tilghman, Jr (1854 - 1924)

Deputy US Marshall and Folk Figure. As a young man growing up, he had no formal education through the school system. He was well trained in all those skills that were necessary for life on the frontier. He left home at the age of fifteen and became a buffalo hunter with his older brother, Richard. […]

Vance Bryden Gerry (1929 - 2005)

Disney Animation Artist. In 1955, he began his career at Disney Studios as an artist, he contributed to the television shows, “The Goofy Success Story,” “Goofy’s Cavalcade of Sports,” and “How to Relax,” also features “The Truth About Mother Goose,” and “Donald in Mathmagic Land.” As a layout artist, he worked on the films “101 […]

Henry Andrew “Heck” Thomas (1850 - 1912)

Deputy US Marshal and Folk Figure. He was the youngest of 12 children born to Lovick Pierce and Martha Ann Fullwood Bedell Thomas. When he was only 12 years old he joined his father and his uncle and went off to the Civil War. They were officers in the 35th Georgia Infantry and Heck was […]

Théodore Géricault (1791 - 1824)

Artist. Major figure of French Romantic painting. He painted an image of a scandalous event of his era on a heroic scale, “Raft of the Medusa” (replica of the painting appears on the grave). Cause of death: Horseback riding accident

Telford Taylor (1908 - 1998)

Attorney, Author.  Chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials. Born in Schenectady, New York, he graduated from Harvard Law School with his degree in law in 1932.  His inital entrance into the public forum began at the end of World War II when, as a young Army Colonel at Nuremberg,  he helped write the rules for […]

François Gerard (1770 - 1837)

Artist. The son of a French father and Italian mother, he is best remembered for his portraits, especially of Napoleon Bonaparte, Empress Josephine, and other family members. Born in Rome, Italy, his father was employed in the home of the French ambassador. When he was 12 years old, he was admitted into the Pension du […]

Alfred Swaine Taylor (1806 - 1880)

Physician. Medical expert for trials. Authority on poisons. Quoted by Dorothy Sayers and Conan Doyle.

Ernest George (1839 - 1970)

Sir Ernest George R.A. Noted architect whose work included Grimsdyke, London as well as the buildings at Golders Green Crematorium. (bio by: Kieran Smith)

Vic Gentils (1919 - 1997)

Painter and Sculptor. The son of a french father and a flemish mother. Born in Ilfracombe, Devon. His father returned with his family to Belgium in 1925, settling in Antwerp. Vic trained as a painter and decorator, his father’s profession, and Vic’s skills in woodworking and gilding were a crucial part of his later practice […]

John Patrick “Jigsaw” St. John (1918 - 1995)

Police officer and LAPD Homicide detective. Renowned for his investigations of many of Los Angeles’s highest-profile murder cases, he served 43 years as a homicide detective beginning in 1949. One of his first assignments was the notorious Black Dahlia murder, a case he worked on-and-off until his retirement in 1993. His nickname, “Jigsaw John”, caught […]

Artemisia Gentileschi (1593 - 1970)

Baroque painter. She was born in Rome as daughter of the painter Orazio Gentileschi and Prudentia Montones. She was also taught painting by him. It was also him who sent her to Agostino Tassi to further her ability in perspective. Tassi raped her and afterwards promised to marry her to restore her honor. He was […]

Sir Bernard Henry Spilsbury (1877 - 1947)

Sir Bernard Spilsbury was Britain’s leading Home Office pathologist during the early 20th Century. Spilsbury worked on such high profile cases as the Crippen murder, Siddon case, ‘Brides in the Bath’ murders, ‘Blazing car murder’ and the Mahon case. His interest in crime led to him being recognised as the greatest medical detective of all […]

Ramón Gaya (1910 - 2005)

Artist. He was born in Murcia (Spain) and died in Valencia. He was the last painter of Generation of 1927. At young age, he obtained a scholarship to study in Paris, where he exposed at the age of 17. He rejected the surrealism and he returned to Spain, where he worked for Government of the […]

George Rose Smith (1911 - 1992)

Judge. George Rose Smith was known for his wry sense of humor. He was a grandson of Uriah Rose, the founder of the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock (Pulaski County), and served as a partner in the firm until his election to the Arkansas Supreme Court in 1948. He holds the record as the […]

John Gay (1970 - 1970)

Artist. He was a leading photographer and collaborator of the poet Sir John Betjeman. Amongst Gay’s famous “sitters” were Hilaire Pierre Belloc (1948), Walter de la Mare (1948), Thomas Stearns (‘T.S.’) Eliot (1948) and Dylan Thomas (1948). Many of his works now belong to the National Portrait Gallery. (bio by: Kieran Smith)

Richard Elihu Sloan (1857 - 1933)

Arizona Territorial Governor.  Sloan was the last governor of the Arizona Territory, serving from his appointment by Taft in 1909 until statehood in 1912. A graduate of Cincinnati Law School, he had come to Phoenix for his health. He was appointed to the Territorial Supreme Court 1897, and served there for nearly 7 years, longer […]

Paul Gauguin (1848 - 1903)

Artist. First he was a sailor, then a stockbroker in Paris but painted in his free time. He began working with Camille Pissarro in 1874 and showed in every Impressionist exhibition between 1879 and 1886. In 1884 he moved with his family to Copenhagen, where he unsuccessfully pursued a business career. He returned to Paris […]

John Horton Slaughter (1841 - 1922)

Western Lawman. He was a rancher and a Texas Ranger when he enlisted in the Confederate Army at the start of the Civil War. Enlisted in Nov 1863 as a pvt in Company E, 36th Woods Cavalry, Texas before moving on to the unit that is currently listed.  Mustered out May 15, 1865. Serving in […]

Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (1891 - 1915)

French Sculptor and Draughtsman. He became a sculptor in Paris without any training. In 1911, he moved to London with his partner, Sophie Brzeska, and there, he associated with figures such as Wyndham Lewis and Ezra Pound. He became a founder member of the London Group and the following year signed the Vorticist Manifesto. Later, […]

John “Maximum John” Sirica (1904 - 1992)

Jurist. He is best remembered as the judge who presided over the Watergate trial that occurred in the 1970s, in which he ordered President Richard Nixon to turn over his recordings of White House conversations pertaining to the case, that ultimately led to his resignation from office on August 9, 1974. He was born John […]

Antoni Gaudi (1852 - 1926)

The great Spanish architect studying and creating mostly in Barcelona. His most famous work is the cathedral Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, starting at 1886 and still not completed. His surrealist buildings had a formative influence on the whole picture of Barcelona. On occasion he had expressed a desire to die in a hospital among the […]

William Ray Simpson (1862 - 1940)

Folk Figure. William Ray Simpson owned a hardware store in Delta, Colorado. On September 7, 1893, the McCarty outlaw gang rode into Delta and attempted to rob the Farmers and Merchants Bank. The McCarty Gang was made up of brothers Tom and Bill McCarty and Bill’s son, Fred McCarty. They were loosely associated with Butch […]

Grace Gassette (1871 - 1970)

Painter, Sculptor, Decorated With Highest Honors from France During World War One. Founder Women’s Athletic Club in Chicago. While in Paris was a student of Mary Cassat and friend of Gertrude Stein. The Smithsonian has her painting, “Fishing Boat Beached On The Shore.” Best known in the 1910s for her knowledge of the human anatomy […]

Cyrus Wells “Doc” Shores (1844 - 1934)

‘Doc’ Shores was a famous and well-respected lawman of the early days on Colorado’s Western Slope. He served as the sheriff of Gunnison County when it was still “wild” and was noted as the lawman who captured Alferd Packer, the infamous “Colorado Cannibal.” Shores also served as a deputy U.S. marshal, a railroad detective and […]