King Camp Gillette (1855 - 1932)

Renowned business magnate. Founder of the Gillette Corporation.  Family links:  Parents:  George Wolcott Gillette (1824 – 1903)  Fanny Lemira Camp Gillette (1828 – 1926)  Spouse:  Alanta Ella Gaines Gillette (1868 – 1951)*  Children:  King Gaines Gillette (1891 – 1955)*  Siblings:  Lina Gillette (1850 – 1926)*  George Herman Gillette (1853 – 1915)*  King Camp Gillette (1855 […]

Domenico Ghirardelli (1817 - 1894)

Candy Maker. Ghirardelli was born in Rapallo, Italy. In 1837 he married and moved to Uraguay where he obtained work at a coffee and chocolate business. In 1838 he moved to Peru where he opened his first confectionary store. By 1849 he was attracted to the United States by the prospect of gold. He sailed […]

J. Paul Getty, Jr (1932 - 2003)

Philantropist. John Paul Getty Jr. was the third of five sons of J. Paul Getty, nicknamed “Oklahoma Crude,” who built Getty Oil into a $6 billion fortune, making him the richest man in the world in his day. After attending the University of San Francisco and doing a brief stint in the army, Getty Jr. […]

J. Paul Getty (1892 - 1976)

Industrialist, Philanthropist, Author.  He was born Jean Paul Getty in Minneapolis the son of George Franklin Getty, a lawyer whose business venture became the Minnehoma Oil Company located in Tulsa. The family would settle in Los Angeles where Jean Paul grew up. His education was extensive…attended Harvard Military Academy and Polytechnic High in Los Angeles. […]

Henry George (1839 - 1897)

Economist. He was the grandfather of choreographer Agnes DeMille.  Family links:  Spouse:  Annie Corsina Fox George (1845 – 1904)*  Children:  Henry George (1862 – 1916)*  Richard F. George (1865 – 1912)* *Calculated relationship

Stephen Geary (1970 - 1970)

Highgate Cemetery Founder.  Family links:  Spouse:  Sarah Geary (____ – 1897)* *Calculated relationship

John Warne Gates (1855 - 1911)

Businessman. He started as a barbed wire salesman for Washburne-Moen. In San Antonio, Texas in 1876, his demonstration of the holding power of the wire against long horn cattle resulted in more orders than the company could fill. The company refused to make him a partner, and he went into business with Alfred Clifford, building […]

John W. Garrett (1820 - 1884)

American banker, philanthropist, and president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O). In 1855, he was named to the board of the B&O, and in 1858, became its president, a position he held until the year he died. His tenure was marked by his support for the Union cause during the Civil War, the expansion […]

James Harvey Ganong (1841 - 1888)

Businessman.  He was a co-founder, along with his brother Gilbert Ganong, of Ganong Brothers, Limited, the oldest candy company in Canada.  It was the first company to introduce a heart-shaped box of chocolates in North America, originally used for presents over the Christmas season before it became successful on Valentine’s Day.  The oldest of six […]

Gilbert White Ganong (1851 - 1917)

Canadian Businessman and Politician. He was a co-founder, along with his brother James Ganong, of Ganong Brothers, Limited, the oldest candy company in Canada. It was the first company to introduce a heart-shaped box of chocolates in North America, originally used for presents over the Christmas season before it became successful on Valentine’s Day. One […]

James Norris Gamble (1836 - 1932)

Manufacturer (Proctor & Gamble).  Family links:  Parents:  James Gamble (1803 – 1891)  Elizabeth A. Norris Gamble (1811 – 1888)  Spouse:  Margaret Penrose Gamble (1832 – 1901)*  Children:  Maud Gamble Nippert (____ – 1937)*  Olivia P. Gamble (1875 – 1961)*  Siblings:  James Norris Gamble (1836 – 1932)  Olivia Gamble (1841 – 1850)*  Alex William Gamble (1843 […]

Robert W. Galvin (1922 - 2011)

Telecommunications Pioneer. As chief executive of Motorola for over 40 years, he built his company from a manufacturer of police radios and television sets into a world leader in the electronics industry. In 1959, Galvin was named CEO of Motorola after the death his father, company founder Paul Galvin. He oversaw Motorola’s pioneering efforts in […]

Ernest Gallo (1909 - 2007)

Businessman. He was the patriarch of the family-owned Ernest and Julio Gallo Winery in Modesto, California. The company is the largest winemaker in the world, and the producer of several popular brands including Carlo Rossi wines and Bartles and Jaymes wine coolers.  Family links:  Parents:  Joseph Gallo (1883 – 1933)  Assunta Bianco Gallo (1887 – […]

John Galardi (1938 - 2013)

Fast Food Entrepreneur. He was best known for being the founder of Wienerschnitzel, the world’s largest hot dog chain. At age 19, he began working at Taco Tia restaurant in Pasadena, California, when he decided to create an idea to compete with Glen Bell, who founded Taco Bell. In 1961, he a opened a hot […]

William Maxwell Gaines (1922 - 1992)

Publisher. He published comedy and parody “MAD Magazine”.

Thomas Gaff (1808 - 1884)

Industrialist, Financier. A native of Edinburgh, Scotland, he came to America with his parents in 1811 and settled in Springfield, New Jersey. Educated in private schools, he learned papermaking from his father and the distillery business from his uncle, Charles Wilson. With his brothers, John and James, he opened a distillery in Philadelphia in the […]

Assar Gabrielsson (1891 - 1962)

Swedish Idustrialist and co-founder of Volvo. In 1924 he teamed with Gustaf Larson and founded Volvo, and the first Volvo was produced three years later, 1927. He was the company’s vice-president for 30 years, 1926-1956 and subsequently Chairman of the board until his death.  (bio by: Peter Robsahm)

Tousuke Fukuzawa (1970 - 1970)

Business magnate. Founded the Daido Electric Power Company. To some, he was known as “The King of Electric Power.” (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)

Raita Fujiyama (1863 - 1938)

Raita Fujiyama Fujiyama was born in Matsuura-gun in Hizen Province (modern-day Imari City, Saga Prefecture), to the village headman and a feudal retainer of the Saga Domain. After studying at the Kodokan (a school of the Saga Domain), he studied at the Nagasaki Normal School (a school of education). When he graduated, he took jobs […]

Ginjiro “The Paper Manufacturing King of Japan” Fujiwara (1869 - 1960)

Businessman. He is best know for establishing the Fujihara Foundation of Science in 1959. He headed the former Oji Paper before the Pacific War. (Oji Paper was the predecessor of today’fs Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. and Oji Paper Co., Ltd.) To establish the Foundation, Mr. Fujiwara contributed 100 million yen from his own funds. […]

Den Fujita (1926 - 2004)

Noted Japanese Businessman. Born in Osaka Japan, while attending the University of Tokyo, he founded Fujita Shoten, an importer of high-quality general merchandise. In 1971 he founded and became president of McDonald’s Japan Company, Ltd. Under his leadership over the years, the burger chain grew to more than 3,000 stores nationwide and the largest McDonald […]

Roy August Fruehauf (1908 - 1965)

Businessman. Fruehauf was Chairman of the Board for the Fruehauf Trailer Corporation. He became chairman after his brother, Harvey Fruehauf retired. He helped produce semi-trailers equipped to ride railroad flatcars.  Family links:  Parents:  August Charles Fruehauf (1868 – 1930)  Sibling:  Harvey Fruehauf (1893 – 1968)*  Roy August Fruehauf (1908 – 1965) *Calculated relationship

Harvey Fruehauf (1893 - 1968)

Businessman. Chairman of the Board for the Fruehauf Trailer Corporation. Son of founder August Fruehauf.  Family links:  Parents:  August Charles Fruehauf (1868 – 1930)  Spouse:  Angela Peck Fruehauf (1892 – 1980)*  Sibling:  Harvey Fruehauf (1893 – 1968)  Roy August Fruehauf (1908 – 1965)* *Calculated relationship

August Charles Fruehauf (1868 - 1930)

Founder of Fruehauf Trailer Corporation in Detroit, Michigan.  Family links:  Parents:  Carl   Fruehauf (1824 – 1894)  Christine Susanna Hoffmeyer Fruehauf (1835 – 1919)  Children:  Harvey Fruehauf (1893 – 1968)*  Roy August Fruehauf (1908 – 1965)*  Sibling:  Henrietta Fruehauf Spader (1863 – 1925)*  August Charles Fruehauf (1868 – 1930) *Calculated relationship

Georgia Frontiere (1927 - 2008)

Professional Football Team Owner. A former nightclub entertainer, she became the principal owner of the Los Angeles Rams football team when her husband, Carroll Rosenbloom,  died in April 1979. Under her leadership the Rams franchise relocated from California to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1995. There they had great success,  making the playoffs five out of […]

David Frisch (1902 - 1970)

Restaurateur. Founder of Frisch’s Big Boy Restaurants, a franchise chain in five states with over 120 locations. David assumed the operation of his family’s restaurant in Norwood, Ohio when his father died in 1923. After selling it to his brothers a decade later, he opened his own restaurant nearby and was soon setback by bankruptcy […]

Henry Clay Frick (1849 - 1919)

Businessman. He made his fortune in the coke making business and was known as the “Coke King.” He merged his vast coke and railroad interests with those of Andrew Carnegie the “Steel King”  to form the Carnegie Corp which later became the United States Steel Corp.  Family links:  Parents:  John Wilson Frick (1822 – 1888) […]

Samuel French (1970 - 1970)

Publisher. He was a pioneering publisher and licenser of plays and musicals. He set up his publishing company in New York in 1854, and in 1859 visited London, where he met Thomas Hailes Lacy, a former actor working as a theatrical bookseller. The two men went into partnership, with the resulting company trading in both […]

John French (1872 - 1903)

French formed the St. Louis Motor Carriage Company in 1900 with George P. Dorriss. They produced 85 automobles. Ironically, Mr. French died as a result of an automobile accident in Pittsburgh. He was on a business trip & took a trial spin in a new car & collided with another car. He suffered severe head […]

William “1st Baron Strathalmond” Fraser (1888 - 1970)

Oil magnate whose commercial acumen led to the formation of Shell Mex/BP in 1931. Dirextor of BP and of Burmah Oil. (bio by: David Conway)  Family links:  Spouse:  Mary Roberton McLintock Fraser (1892 – 1963)*  Children:  William Fraser (1916 – 1976)* *Calculated relationship