David Packard (1912 - 1996)

In 1939, David Packard and Hewlett established Hewlett-Packard (HP) in Packard’s garage with an initial capital investment of $538 (approx, adjusted to today $9,000 in 2015). Packard mentions in his book The HP Way that the name Hewlett-Packard was determined by the flip of a coin: HP, rather than PH. Their first product was an […]

Frederick Pabst (1836 - 1904)

Businessman. Beer magnate who founded the Pabst Breweries. Born in Nicholausreith, Bavaria, Germany, he immigrated with his parents to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1848, worked for a time as a cook in Chicago and later became captain and part owner of one of the Goodrich Steamship Lines’ ships, theHuron, on the Great Lakes. In Milwaukee, he […]

(1970 - 1970)

Businessman, Naturalist, Yachtsman. In 1871, he left England to go to Asia, to work as a merchant in Japan and a marine naturalist. There, he collected over 1,300 of Asian fish specimens from Japan and China. In addition, he also collected reptiles, birds, clams, frogs and giant sea sponges. His collections can be found in […]

Harrison Gray Otis (1837 - 1917)

Newspaper publisher and real estate magnate. He published the “Los Angeles Times” from 1886 until after World War I, was also a commanding conservative force in turn-of-the-century Southern California, and an unequaled promoter of regional growth. Born near Marietta, Ohio, he was a descendant of the colonial political activist James Otis; he had little formal […]

John R. Opel (1925 - 2011)

US Business Executive. As the visionary head of I.B.M., he played a key role during the company’s transition into the personal computer era. Born John Roberts Opel, he was raised in Jefferson City, Missouri, the son of a hardware store proprietor, he attended Westminster College where he majored in English, and following service with the […]

Aristotle Socrates Onassis (1906 - 1975)

Greek Shipping Magnate. He is best remembered as the second husband of former First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.  During his lifetime, he was one of the richest and most famous men in the world, with his name becoming synonymous with extreme wealth.  Born Aristotle Sokratis Onassis in Smyrna, in the Ottoman Empire (now Izmir, Turkey), […]

Earl Bernard Olson (1915 - 2006)

Earl Bernard Olson (May 8, 1915 – December 11, 2006) was a businessman who founded the Jennie-O Turkey company (now part of Hormel). Earl B. Olson was born on a farm north of Murdock, MN, the son of Olof and Anna (Anderson) Olson. Both his father and mother were immigrants from Sweden. After eight grades of […]

Ransom Eli Olds (1864 - 1950)

American inventor and automotive pioneer, best known as the founder of the car company that became Oldsmobile Motor Division of General Motors Corporation (GM). He was born Ransom Eli Olds on June 3, 1864, in Geneva, Ohio, the younger of two sons of Pliny Fisk Olds and Sarah Whipple Olds. His father was a blacksmith […]

Namihei Odaira (1874 - 1951)

Namihei Odaira founder of Hitachi, was born in Tochigi Prefecture, which is about hundred kilometers from Tokyo, Japan, on 15th of January 1874. He is known in history as Japanese philanthropist and entrepreneur. He got his early education from his native town. In 1900, he got his graduation degree in the department of electrical engineering […]

Amedeo Voltejo Obici (1877 - 1947)

Founder of Planters. Started his career as a bellhop and fruit stand vendor in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Later, Obici moved to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and opened his own fruit stand and invested in a peanut roaster. Here he linked his life’s fortune with the peanut. In a few years, Obici turned peddler, using a horse and wagon, […]

Eugene O’Keefe (1827 - 1913)

Brewer of beer, “O’Keefe Brewing.”

Thomas O’Flaherty (1970 - 1970)

Born in Ireland, O’Flaherty arrived in St. Louis in 1825, where he started a boat store, a wholesale grocery & a commission house. In 1844 he married Eliza Faris, member of an old Creole family. They were the parents of writer Kate Chopin. O’Flaherty was one of the founders of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. In […]

(1970 - 1970)

Italian poet.

Vicente Pío Marcelino Cirilo Aleixandre y Merlo (1898 - 1984)

Poet. He was awarded the the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1977. Among his books are “La Destrucción o el Amor,” “Poemas de la Consumación,” and “Diálogos del Conocimiento.”

Bess Streeter Aldrich (1881 - 1954)

Author, Novelist. Bess Aldrich’s writing career spanned over forth years, during which she published of around 200 short stories and articles, 13 novels, and two books of short stories. Born Geneva Streeter, she was the youngest of eight children. A writer since early childhood, she won a writing contest at age 14 and another at […]

Carl “Andy” Capasso (1945 - 2001)

Crime Figure. “Millionaire tax cheat” Carl “Andy” Capasso, the ex-lover of former Miss America Bess Myerson and a key player in one of the most lurid scandals of the New York City “Koch era,” died of cancer at his Upper East Side apartment, one month after being diagnosed. Capasso, a sewer contractor, was at the […]

Richard Canfield (1855 - 1914)

American Folk Figure. Called “America’s Greatest Gambler”, Richard Canfield started running a small faro parlor in Pawtucket, Rhode Island thay landed him in jail. In Providence he established a gambling parlor as well.  At separate times he ran two high stakes  gambling houses in New York City; one which was across from the famous Delmonico […]

Richard Cain (1931 - 1973)

Organized Crime Figure. Richard Cain was born in Chicago but grew up in Owosso, Michigan. He was made into the Chicago Outfit early in life, despite the fact that his grandfather had been a prominent anti-Mafia activist in The Patch. He joined the Chicago Police Department in the 1950’s, functioning as a double agent. Cain […]

Martin Cahill (1949 - 1994)

At age 16, Martin Cahill was convicted of two burglaries and sentenced to an industrial school run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate at Daingean, County Offaly. After his release, he met and married Frances Lawless, a girl from Rathmines, where his family was now living. With his brothers, he continued to commit multiple burglaries in […]

James L. Butler (1855 - 1923)

American Folk Figure. On May 19, 1900 he was chasing a mule near present day Tonopah, Nevada, when he happened upon a rock containing silver ore. Out of that small incident grew one of the richest mining districts in the history of the West and a city which hosted the likes of Jack Dempsey, Wyatt […]

George Burroughs (1970 - 1692)

Victim of the Salem Witch Trials. George was raised by his mother in the town of Roxbury. George Burroughs was the only Puritan minister indicted and executed in Salem in 1692. He served as minister of Salem Village from 1680 until he left in 1683. As one of the succession of three ministers who left […]

Fred Burke (1893 - 1940)

Criminal. One of eight children of Mr. and Mrs. Wall Camp of Mapleton, Kansas. Teachers of Fred Burke stated he attended school in which he was exceedingly intelligent. He also attended Sunday school regularly. His real name was Thomas Camp. At seventeen he was involved in a land-fraud scheme with a traveling salesman. He fled […]

Guy Francis de Moncy Burgess (1911 - 1963)

Cold War Soviet Spy. Despite being a flamboyant drunk and open, notorious homosexual, he proved to be one of the Soviet Union’s best spies at the beginning of the Cold War. Born in Davenport, England, his father was an high-ranking officer in the Royal Navy, and his mother an aristocrat.  His wealthy, upper middle class […]

Angelo Buono, Jr (1934 - 2002)

Mass Murderer known as “The Hillside Strangler.” Beginning in 1977, with his cousin Kenneth Bianchi he kidnapped and tortured 9 young women between the ages of 12 and 28, eventually killing them. They taunted police by lining up the bodies in weeds along Los Angeles, California, highways. They would abduct their victims by flashing fake […]

Eng Bunker (1811 - 1874)

Entertainers. Born in the Mae Klong Valley, Samut Songkhram Province, Siam (present day Thailand) to a Chinese father, Ti-aye and a Chinese/Cham mother, Nok. The brothers, Eng and Chang Bunker, were born conjoined thoraopagus twins, the most common form of conjoined twins, they shared part of the chest wall, and their livers were fused. Legend […]

Chang Bunker (1811 - 1874)

Entertainers. Born in the Mae Klong Valley, Samut Songkhram Province, Siam (present day Thailand) to a Chinese father, Ti-aye and a Chinese/Cham mother, Nok. The brothers, Chang and Eng Bunker, were born conjoined thoraopagus twins, the most common form of conjoined twins, they shared part of the chest wall, and their livers were fused. Legend […]

Woo Bum-Kon (1955 - 1982)

South Korean Mass Murderer. A police officer, on April 28th, 1982, he left the house of his live-in girlfriend, Chun-Mai Sun in a rage. Upon arriving at work, he began to drink heavily. The other officers were at a community meeting, and a still-furious Woo raided an unguarded police armory, taking two carbines, 18 rounds […]

Louis “Lepke” Buchalter (1897 - 1944)

Organized Crime Figure. He was a Jewish Mob boss who operated in the New York City, New York Garment District in the 1930s and 1940s, and was a close associate of mafia boss Lucky Luciano. He was part of the Murder Incorporated a group of professional killers who worked solely for the National Crime Syndicate […]

Roy Bryant, Sr (1931 - 1994)

Crime Figure. Along with half-brother J.W. Milam, murdered 14 year old Emmett Till on August 28, 1955, in Money, Mississippi. The crime is noted as a pivotal event motivating the African-American Civil Rights Movement.  Family links:  Spouse:  Vera Jo Orman Bryant (1932 – 2012)

Angelo “The Gentle Don” Bruno (1910 - 1980)

Organized Crime Figure. He joined the Philadelphia Organized Crime Family in the 1930s and took control of the Family from Antonio Pollina in 1959. A revolt led by Antonio (Tony Bananas) Caponigro, the Bruno Family Consigliere, ended in the murder of Angelo Bruno. On the night of March 21, 1980, he was shotgunned to death […]