John Ryle (1817 - 1887)

Businessman. He is considered the “Father of the Silk Industry” in Paterson, New Jersey, which in 1870 produced close to half of all the silk made in the United States. He was born in Bollington, England, which was an area that manufactured silk. As a young man he worked in different aspects of the industry, […]

Ralph Bennett Ryder (1970 - 2001)

Founding member of Ryder Trucking Company which grew into one of the world’s largest truck-leasing companies. In 1933, Ryder’s younger brother James started the Miami-based business by buying a Ford Model A truck for $35.00. Ralph Ryder bought the second truck, and the brothers hauled meat to ports on the beach and debris and cement […]

Thomas Alexander Russell (1877 - 1940)

Automobile manufacturer. Inventor of one of the few truly Canadian cars. In 1905, as general manager of the Canadian Cycle and Motor Company (CCM), Russell introduced a model A, with a flat, two-cylinder gasoline engine. It had such advanced features as shaft drive, a sliding-gear transmission, and a column-mounted shift lever. Russell marketed the vehicle […]

Margaret Fogarty Rudkin (1897 - 1967)

Businesswoman. Born Margaret Fogarty in Manhattan, New York, she was an enterprising lady noted as one of the great business leaders of her time. She graduated valedictorian of her high school class and then spent nine years working in New York before marrying Wall Street Broker Henry Rudkin in 1923. In 1929, the same year […]

Helena Rubinstein Courielli (1870 - 1965)

Entrepreneur. Born Chaja Rubinstein in Krakow, Poland, she was the founder of the Helena Rubinstein Cosmetic Company, which made her the first self-made female millionaire. She emigrated from Poland to Australia, in 1902 and soon began to make her jars of beauty cream that sold to enthusiastic buyers. She eventually moved to Paris, where she […]

Steve Rubell (1943 - 1989)

Businessman. He is best known as being the owner of the world famous 1970s New York ‘super’ club, Studio 54. Born in New York, Rubell worked in the restaurant and office business before deciding to open the ultimate nightclub. In 1977 with his partner, Ian Schrager, they rented a vacant theater and opened Studio 54 […]

Charles Broadway Rouss (1836 - 1902)

Businessman, Philanthropist. Although born in Woodsboro, Maryland, he lived in Winchester, Virginia between the ages of ten and twenty-four. He started his merchant career in Winchester as a store clerk and later owned his own business. He moved to Richmond, Virginia in 1862 where he opposed secession. Apparently having a change of heart, he joined […]

James Wilson Rouse (1914 - 1996)

Developer James W. Rouse  was the founder of Columbia, Maryland, one of the best known and most successful new towns built in the U.S. after World War II. Columbia now has more than 83,000 residents and 2,500 businesses and industries. After retiring from the Rouse Company in 1981, Rouse devoted his time to the Enterprise […]

Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1840 - 1915)

Financier, British Statesman. He became the head of the London branch of the Rothschild banking family, being the great-grandson of family dynasty founder Mayer Amschel Rothschild. He inherited the family baronetcy from his uncle, and became the first Jewish member of Great Britain’s House of Lords.  Family links:  Parents:  Lionel Nathan de Rothschild (1808 – […]

Leopold de Rothschild (1845 - 1917)

British Banker. The 3rd son and youngest child of British banker and politician Lionel de Rothschild, he came from a prestigious and wealthy Jewish family whose banking roots went back to Germany in the 1760s. He received his education at King’s College School in London, England and Trinity College in Cambridge, England. He then entered […]

James de Rothschild (1878 - 1957)

British Politician and Philanthropist.  The son of Edmond James de Rothschild of the French branch of the wealthy and prominent Jewish Rothschild family, he received his education Lycee Louis-le-Grand in Paris, France and at Trinity College, Cambridge, England.  When World War I broke out in July 1914, he served in the enlisted ranks of the […]

Jules Roth (1900 - 1998)

General Manager and President Emeritus of Hollywood Memorial Cemetery, now Hollywood Forever. He drove the cemetery into bankruptcy.  Family links:  Parents:  Jules Frederick Roth (1862 – 1923)  Ella Kent Hine Roth (1868 – 1917)

Steven J. Ross (1927 - 1992)

Businessman. He was the CEO of Time Warner Incorporated, Warner Communications, and Kinney National Services, Incorporated. Born Steven Jay Rechnitz in Brooklyn, New York, he was the son of Jewish immigrants. His father lost all his money during the Great Depression of the 1930s and changed the family name to Ross in hope of finding […]

Julius Rosenwald (1862 - 1932)

Chicago area merchant. He was an early partner with Sears. He helped found the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  Family links:  Parents:  Augusta Hammerslough Rosenwald (1833 – 1921)  Spouse:  Augusta N Nusbaum Rosenwald (1868 – 1929)  Children:  Edith Rosenwald Stern (1895 – 1980)*  Sibling:  Louis S. Rosenwald (____ – 1935)*  Julius Rosenwald (1862 […]

William Rosenberg (1916 - 2002)

William Rosenberg was the food franchising pioneer who founded the Dunkin’ Donuts chain and saw it spread from coast to coast and into 37 countries.  Family links:  Parents:  Nathan Edward Rosenberg (____ – 1955)  Phoebe Swart Rosenberg (1891 – 1992)  Spouse:  Bertha Greenberg Rosenberg (1914 – 2008)* *Calculated relationship

Benjamin Rose (1828 - 1908)

Industrialist and philantropist. He formed the Cleveland Provision Company, Cleveland’s largest meat packer. He pioneered meat shipping using refrigerated cars.

Emanuele Ronzoni, Sr (1870 - 1956)

Entrepreneur. Tens of millions of North Americans grew up with his name, as part of his company’s iconic trademark, “Ronzoni Sono Buoni…Ronzoni is so good.”  But it all began in 1881 when Emanule Ronzoni immigrated to the United States with his parents from Italy.  After spending his teen years working at a macaroni factory on […]

George Wilcken Romney (1907 - 1995)

Michigan Governor, Presidential Cabinet Secretary. He served as Governor of Michigan from 1962 to 1968, and served as United States Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1968 to 1972. Father of politician Mitt Romney.  Family links:  Parents:  Samuel Gaskell Romney (1871 – 1955)  Anna Amelia Pratt Romney (1876 – 1926)  Spouse: […]

Charles Stewart Rolls (1877 - 1910)

British Automotive Pioneer, Industrialist. Known as the co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited. Born into an aristocratic family, he graduated in Engineering at Cambridge, beginning very young to devote himself to engines design. The meeting with Henry Royce, which occurred in 1904 at the Automobile Club of London, was decisive for the creation of the prestigious english […]

Henry Huttleston Rogers (1840 - 1909)

Businessman and philanthropist.  He amassed a fortune so large he was listed in a 1996 study as one of the 25 most wealthy individuals in US history.  He was a major holder in John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust, and had numerous investments of his own in copper, steel, natural gas, coal, and railroads.  Rogers […]

Alvah Curtis Roebuck (1864 - 1948)

Businessman. Co-founder of Sears and Roebuck Company. Born in Lafayette, Indiana, he began working as a self-taught watchmaker in Hammond Indiana at the age of 22. He answered a classified ad for a watchmaker placed by Richard W. Sears in the Chicago Daily News in 1887. Their association grew into one of the world’s best […]

Jerome Irving Rodale (1898 - 1971)

Businessman/Publisher. Known by his friends simply as J.I., he was the founder of Rodale Press and one of the world’s foremost advocates of organic farming and natural food. While his ideas were first met with criticism from the scientific and medical communities, he eventually became recognized as an innovative leader by his critics. Among the […]

William Rockefeller (1841 - 1922)

Industrialist. The younger brother of oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, he served as President of Standard Oil until its antitrust dissolution in 1911.  Family links:  Parents:  William Avery Rockefeller (1810 – 1906)  Eliza Davison Rockefeller (1813 – 1889)  Spouse:  Almira Geraldine Goodsell Rockefeller (1844 – 1920)  Children:  Emma Rockefeller McAlpin (1868 – 1934)*  William Goodsell […]

John D. Rockefeller, III (1906 - 1978)

Financier and Philanthropist.  Born into the wealthy and socially prominent Rockefeller family, he was the eldest son of John Davison Rockefeller Jr and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller.  He attended primary education at the Browning School in New York City, and at the Loomis Institute in Windsor, Connecticut.  In 1929, he graduated from Princeton University where he […]

John Davison Rockefeller, Sr (1839 - 1937)

American financier, oil magnate and philanthropist.  Best known as the patriarch of the socially prominent Rockefeller family of New York, founder of the Standard Oil Company and founder of the Rockefeller Foundation.  He was born John Davison Rockefeller on July 8, 1839 in Richford, New York, the son of William Avery Rockefeller, a traveling quack […]

Frank DeHass Robison (1970 - 1908)

Major League Baseball Team Owner, Businessman. A pioneer in street railway lines, he was the owner of the Cleveland Spiders baseball team.  In 1877, he and his father-in-law organized Hathaway & Robison to build and operate street railway systems.  The company established street railway systems throughout the United States and Canada.  Robison organized the Cleveland […]

Joseph Winchester Robinson (1846 - 1891)

Businessman, Founder.  In 1882, Robinson left Waltham, Massachusetts, where he had operated a dry goods business, for California, intending to develop orange groves in Riverside. Upon arrival he took an interest in the retail business in the small community of Los Angeles and sensing that the area would grow, and that the rough-and-tumble general stores […]

Harry Winchester Robinson (1878 - 1932)

Businessman. The heir to the Robinsons Department Store empire, and son of Founder, John W. Robinson, he built the business into one of Los Angeles’ most successful department stores. Robinsons merged with the May Company in 1993, and today, Robinsons-May has 55 stores in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. (bio by: Scott G)  Family links: […]

George Rowan Robinson (1866 - 1929)

Business Magnate. Mr. Robinson was one of the founders of the Ralston Purina Company. He was also a former manager of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He got his start into the business world at the age of fourteen when he obtained employment with the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Four years later, he spent his summer […]

Irv Robbins (1917 - 2008)

Entrepreneur. With Burt Baskin he co-founded the Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain in 1945.  They also pioneered in franchising their stores. Famed for its “31 flavors” concept, Baskin-Robbins now has over 5500 outlets around the world.  Robbins was born in Winnepeg,  Manitoba,  Canada,  and raised in Washington state. (bio by: Bobb Edwards)  Family links:  Spouse:  Irma […]