Vincent George Marotta, Sr (1924 - 2015)

American Inventor, Real Estate Developer and Philantropist. Marotta, a former pro football player who had also signed with Major League Baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals, was a co-creator of the Mr. Coffee machine that eventually replaced the standard percolator found in most American homes. A star athlete, he was signed as a center fielder by the […]

Ernest Whitworth Marland (1874 - 1941)

E.W. Marland was a pioneering oil man, starting the company that became Conoco, and Oklahoma’s 10th governor.  Marland lived a lavish lifestyle that made him well known as a social leader in Oklahoma. Marland showered Ponca City with gifts including a hospital, parks, and donations for civic improvements and to many charities. Perhaps the best […]

Simon Marks (1888 - 1964)

Business Magnate. Son of the co-founder of one of Britains leading department stores Marks & Spencer, which has shops the world over. It was Simon Marks, who in the 1920s introduced the famous “St. Michael” brand which is famously sold in Marks & Spencer stores. (bio by: Kieran Smith)  Family links:  Parents:  Michael Marks (1859 […]

Michael Marks (1970 - 1907)

Michael Marks was born into a Polish-Jewish and Belarusian-Jewish family in Słonim, in the Grodno Governorate of the Russian Empire, now a town in Belarus. He emigrated to England around 1882 and moved to Leeds, where a company called Barran was known to employ Jewish refugees. He married Hannah Cohen at the Great Synagogue on […]

Alex Manoogian (1901 - 1996)

Born into an Armenian family in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire (modern-day Izmir, Turkey), Alex Manoogian was 19 when he immigrated to the United States. He was a refugee from the Armenian genocide in the wake of the collapse of the empire during World War I and the rise of the Turkish nationalist movement. Arriving in Bridgeport, Connecticut […]

Eddie Mannix (1891 - 1963)

Eddie Mannix was born in Fort Lee, New Jersey, the son of John and Lizzie (née Striker) Mannix. Christened Joseph Edgar Allen John Mannix, he used Edgar Joseph Mannix as his official name, but was known to most associates as Eddie. After working as a bouncer and then treasurer of the Palisades Park Amusement Park, […]

Mariuccia Mandelli (1925 - 2015)

Mariuccia Mandelli (January 31, 1925 – December 6, 2015) was an Italian fashion designer and entrepreneur. Mandelli established her ready-to-wear fashion house, Krizia, in 1954 by bringing suitcases of samples to shops in Milan out of her Fiat 500. The Guardian has called her the “godmother of Italian fashion.”[1] According to the New York Times, […]

Alexander Majors (1814 - 1900)

In 1848 Alexander Majors started hauling overland freight on the Santa Fe Trail. On his first trip, he set a new time record of 92 days for the 1564-mile (2500 km) round trip. Eventually he employed 4,000 men, including a 15-year-old lad named Billy Cody, later known as Buffalo Bill. Cody became one of his […]

Rowland Hussey Macy (1822 - 1877)

Businessman. He was the founder of the R.H. Macy and Company department store chain. Born into a Quaker family, his father worked as a shopkeeper. When he was 15 years old he worked on the whaling ship, the Emily Morgan, and had a red star tattooed on his forearm that would later become part of […]

John William MacKay (1831 - 1902)

Businessman. A mining magnate and transatlantic cable-layer, he developed the Big Bonanza Silver Mine in Nevada in the 1860s, and the famous Comstock Lode beginning in 1869.  Family links:  Children:  John William MacKay (1870 – 1895)*  Clarence Hungerford Mackay (1874 – 1938)* *Calculated relationship

Bernarr MacFadden (1868 - 1955)

Magazine Publisher.  Family links:  Spouses:  Johnnie Lee Macfadden (____ – 1992)*  Mary Williamson Macfadden (1892 – 1969)*  Children:  Byrne Moore MacFadden (1905 – 1926)*  Byron MacFadden (1921 – 1922)* *Calculated relationship

Robert Lund (1925 - 1995)

Businessman. He started the American Museum of Magic in Marshall, Michigan, which is the largest magic museum in the world, containing some half-million pieces of memorabilia, as well as an archive of thousands of little-known conjurors. Items on display at the museum include the “Milk Can” escape equipment of Houdini. (bio by: Graveaddiction)

Henry Robinson Luce, II (1898 - 1967)

Magazine Magnate. Publisher of Sports Illustrated, Life and Time Magazine.  Family links:  Parents:  Henry Winters Luce (1868 – 1941)  Spouse:  Clare Boothe Luce (1903 – 1987)*  Children:  Henry R Luce (1925 – 2005)* *Calculated relationship

John Baptiste Charles Lucas (1758 - 1842)

Born in France, Lucas happened to meet Benjamin Franklin, the U.S. Ambassador to the French court. Fascinated by Franklin’s conversations on the new democracy & the vast opportunities of a new frontier, he decided to emigrate to America. He arrived in 1784 & moved to St. Louis in 1805 where he was appointed Commissioner of […]

Henry Victor Lucas (1857 - 1910)

Lucas was a St. Louis millionaire. He owned the St. Louis Maroons baseball team. He also formed the Union Association & became president of the league.  (bio by: Connie Nisinger)  Family links:  Parents:  James H. Lucas (1800 – 1873)  Marie Emilie Des Ruisseaux Lucas (1815 – 1878)  Spouse:  Louise Espenschied Clopton (1858 – 1940)*  Children: […]

Cyril Lord (1911 - 1984)

Cyril Lord (12 July 1911 – 29 May 1984) was a British entrepreneur known principally for the manufacture of carpets during the 1960s. Born in Droylsden in Lancashire, Lord spent his early years living in a community of textile mill-workers. Lord was married three times. In 1936 he married Bessie Greenwood, and they had one son […]

Marcus Loew (1870 - 1927)

Pioneer Motion Picture Executive.  As founder of the Loew’s theatre chain and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios,  Marcus Loew played a major role in the emergence of Hollywood as the world’s movie capital.  Born Max Loew in New York City,  the son of Austrian-Jewish immigrants,  he grew up in poverty and dropped out of school at age nine […]

John “Jack” Loeks (1919 - 2004)

Businessman. Founder and president of the Jack Loeks Theatres chain. (bio by: Butterfly)

Allen H. Lockheed (1889 - 1969)

Aviation Pioneer. In 1911 he began designing aircraft and in 1916 Lockheed was co-founder of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation with his brother Malcolm. In 1929 Lockheed developed the Lockheed Vega monoplane, built for the likes of Wiley Post and Amelia Earhart. That same year Lockheed retired from the company and gave full command to his […]

James William Lochridge (1842 - 1909)

Rancher, Businessman. He discovered the first oil field in North Texas while drilling for water on his land three miles southeast of the site of present day Petrolia, Texas. Not being thrilled with the discovery he used the oil for dipping cattle to rid them of parasites, and on April 10, 1903 he formed the […]

Edward Lloyd (1970 - 1713)

Founder of Lloyd’s Coffee House and hence of the insurance industry (Lloyd’s of London, which grew from the transactions undertaken by brokers while drinking coffee there).  Family links:  Spouse:  Abigail Lloyd (____ – 1698)* *Calculated relationship

Celeste Lizio (1908 - 1988)

Businesswoman. Founder of Mrs. Lizio’s frozen pizza, later purchased by Quaker Oats and marketed, with her help, as Celeste frozen pizzas.

Robert R. Livingston (1746 - 1813)

Statesman, Inventor, Entrepreneur. He was born a member of one of the great land-owning colonial families of New York. Robert spend his early years here and entered King’s College (Columbia University) at the age of 15. Livingston served from 1775 to 1777 in the Continental Congress, where he was one of the five drafters of […]

Joseph Baron Lister (1827 - 1912)

Medical Pioneer, “Father of Antiseptics.” He graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine degree from London University, and went on to training at the Royal College of Physicians. As surgeon in Glasgow Royal Infirmary, he was concerned with the number of deaths from surgeries. Many operations resulted in inflammation and gangrene. Studying the germ theory of […]

Pat Summitt (1952 - 2016)

Pat Summitt (née Head, June 14, 1952 – June 28, 2016) was an American college basketball head coach who achieved the most wins in NCAA basketball history of any coach, male or female. She served as the head coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team from 1974 to 2012, winning eight NCAA […]

Scotty Moore (1931 - 2016)

Scotty Moore was born near Gadsden, Tennessee. He learned to play the guitar from family and friends at eight years of age. Although underage when he enlisted, Moore served in the United States Navy between 1948 and 1952. Moore’s early background was in jazz and country music. A fan of guitarist Chet Atkins, Moore led […]

John W. Kluge (1914 - 2010)

Entrepreneur. He was best known as a television industry mogul whom parlayed a small fortune into a multibillion-dollar communications empire. In the mid-1950s, he became the major stockholder of the Metropolitan Broadcasting Corporation and he was the company’s board chairman in control of television and radio broadcasting by 1958. From the 1960s to mid-1980s, his […]

Maria Anna Klausmann (1970 - 1898)

Maria’s brothers were beer brewing pioneers in St. Louis. Maria married Carl Klausmann & they opened a restaurant known as “Our House.” The business propsered & they established the Klausmann Brewery in 1857. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Klausmann took full charge of the business & developed a manufacturing interest which ultimately yielded […]

Carl Klausmann (1970 - 1859)

Born in Germany, Klausmann apprenticed to a painter & mastered his trade working as a journeyman sign painter before coming to the U.S. in 1839. Settling in Kentucky, he met Miss M.A. Uhrig, whose brothers later became famous beer brewing pioneers in St. Louis. The couple married & came to St. Louis & opened a […]

Ginko Kishida (1970 - 1970)

Publisher. Pioneer newspaper businessman. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)