Alden Joseph “The Colonel” Blethen (1845 - 1915)

Newspaper Publisher. Born in Knox, Waldo County, Maine, he began his career as a school teacher and attorney. He received his formal education from Wesleyan Seminary and College in 1868, and a Masters degree from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine in 1872. From 1869 to 1873 he served as principal of the Abbott family school […]

Valentine Blatz (1826 - 1894)

Businessman, Beer Magnate. Valentin Blatz, born to Casper Blatz, a brewer, in Miltenberg am Main, Bavaria, Germany, attended municipal schools until age 14 when he began an apprenticeship in his father’s brewery. He began in 1844, to acquire additional experience at breweries in Augusburg, Wurzburg and Munich until 1848 when he emigrated from Bavaria to […]

Bill Blass (1922 - 2002)

Designer. Born William Ralph Blass in Fort Wayne, Indiana to a part-time dressmaker and a traveling hardware salesman. Blass’s father committed suicide when Blass was five. At 15, Blass began selling sketches of evening gowns for $25 each to a New York manufacturer. At 17 he left home to attend fashion school in New York. […]

Walter Blair (1830 - 1888)

Western Entrepreneur. Born in Vermont, he was a dairy farmer who came to California, during the gold rush in 1850. Un-successful with his gold endeavors, he bought over six hundred acres in the Piedmont hills area. There he built a hotel, amusement park, dairy farm and a rock quarry near the town. He also created […]

Thomas Blackwell (1804 - 1879)

Entrepreneur. Co-founder of Crosse & Blackwell. He met Edmund Crosse in 1819 when they were apprentices at the same firm, West and Wyatt, which produced pickles, sauces and condiments. They bought out their employer in 1829 and renamed the company after themselves, expanding their line of goods by purchasing new recipes from top chefs. Two […]

Charles Reed Bishop (1822 - 1915)

Businessman. Confidant of Hawaiian kings, husband of Princess Bernice.

Ghanshyam das Birla (1894 - 1983)

Indian Businessman. He was the wealthiest man in India. Mahatma Ghandi was assassinated in the gardens of his home.

Clarence Birdseye (1886 - 1956)

He invented the process to deep-freeze foods and was one of the founders of General Foods Corporation. (bio by: Ron Moody)  Family links:  Spouse:  Eleanor Gannett Birdseye (____ – 1977)Cause of death: Unknown

Milton Harry Biow (1892 - 1976)

Advertising genius. He developed the concept of the “$64,000 Question” for television. He also created the slogan “Call for Philip Morris.”  Family links:  Parents:  Harry Louis Biow (1865 – 1931)

Joseph Patterson Binns (1905 - 1980)

Entrepreneur, hotel executive. Binns rose from room clerk in an Atlantic City hotel (1928-1931), to vice-president of Hilton Hotels Corporoation (1946-1962), in which post he served as general manager of the Palmer House, Chicago (1946-1949), and executive vice-president and general manager of the Waldorf-Astoria, New York (1949-1961). He was also president and chief executive officer […]

Lonnie “Ted” Binion (1943 - 1998)

Casino magnate. His family started The Horseshoe Casino in downtown Las Vegas.  Family links:  Parents:  Benny Binion (1904 – 1989)  Francis Jane Henderson Binion (1916 – 1994)  Sibling:  Barbara Shirlen Binion Fechser (1934 – 1983)*  Lonnie Binion (1943 – 1998) *Calculated relationship

Benny Binion (1904 - 1989)

Businessman. He was the founder of “Binion’s Horseshoe Casino”, and the father of Ted Binion, who later ran the casino, and Becky Binion Behan, the current owner. He came to Las Vegas in 1946, became part owner of the Las Vegas Club for a short time, then opened the Horseshoe in 1951. He later bought […]

Thomas W. Binford (1924 - 1999)

Pioneering civil rights leader, successful businessman and longtime fixture at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For decades, Binford was one of Indianapolis’ most influential men, serving as a founder and leader of myriad business, sports and civic institutions. He was cofounder of the Urban League of Indianapolis, chief steward of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and the […]

Sherman Billingsley (1900 - 1966)

Nightclub owner, ex-bootlegger, ruled with a velvet fist. The Stork Club was the epitome of glamor. The green canopy, blue-uniformed doorman with his whistle at the ready, the heavy bronze door swinging to admit only the chosen few while crowds of craning gawkers and autograph hunters tried to get a glimpse, of what today we […]

Alfred Jackson Billes (1902 - 1995)

Entrepreneur, Business Magnate. Founder of the Canadian Tire company.  Family links:  Spouse:  Muriel Moore Billes (____ – 1979)*  Children:  Alfred William Billes (1935 – 2007)* *Calculated relationship

Nicholas Biddle (1786 - 1844)

American Banker and Financier. He is probably best remembered as the president of the Second National Bank of the United States from 1822 to 1839, whose operating procedures and practices came into direct conflict with President Andrew Jackson. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, his father was devoted to the cause of American Independence. As a child, […]

John Paris “J.P.” Bickell (1884 - 1951)

Business Magnate, Canadian Sports Benefactor. Bickell was a popular Toronto, Ontario, businessman who had a great contribution to the benefit of professional hockey. Bickell had successful career in business thanks to the success of the teams of the Toronto St. Pats and the Toronto Maple Leafs as well as many other causes. Bickell who was […]

Charles Garrett “Garry” Betty (1957 - 2007)

Businessman, CEO. He served as the president and corporate executive officer (CEO) of Earthlink, an Atlanta based Internet Service Provider. He joined Earthlink in 1996 and oversaw the company’s growth from a moderately sized business with half a million subscribers, to a nationally based company with over 5 million customers. He was a 1979 graduate […]

William Peter Bettendorf (1857 - 1910)

Inventor, Businessman. As president and co-founder of Bettendorf Axle Company, he invented the Bettendorf Truck, which revolutionized the railroad industry. Before that time, railroad trucks had been made from many smaller pieces. The Bettendorf Truck was cast from one piece of steel. The city of Bettendorf, Iowa is named for him and his brother, Joseph. […]

Joseph William Bettendorf (1864 - 1933)

Businessman. Co-founder, along with his brother, William, of the Bettendorf Axle Compnay, whose Bettendorf Truck revolutionized the railroad industry. The city of Bettendorf, Iowa is named for the Bettendorf brothers. (bio by: Dustin Oliver)  Family links:  Parents:  Michael Bettendorf (1836 – 1917)  Catherine Reck Bettendorf (1837 – 1926)  Spouse:  Elizabeth Ohl Bettendorf (1865 – 1941)* […]

Union Noble Bethell (1859 - 1933)

Businessman. He was a lawyer who joined all small phone companies to create AT&T. He was present at first cable crossing from Orleans, Massachusetts to Brest, France, and was chairman of operating board of AT&T from 1918 to 1919.  Family links:  Spouse:  Donna Isabel Bethel (1870 – 1954)*  Children:  John Warren Bethell (1906 – 1976)* […]

Jacob Best (1786 - 1861)

Business Magnate. Jacob Best learned the brewer’s trade in his hometown of Hesse Darnstadt, Germany, and then moved on to operate a small brewery in Mattenheim. In 1840, two of Best’s four sons immigrated to America, settling in the Kilbourntown section of Milwaukee. They were joined by Jacob Best, his two younger sons and other […]

Clarence Leo Best (1878 - 1951)

Industrialist, Businessman. Co-founder of the Caterpillar Tractor Company. Born the son of tractor manufacturing pioneer Daniel Best in Albany, Oregon, he began working for his father’s company, the Best Manufacturing Company, right after high school. In 1908, his father sold the company to chief rival Benjamin Holt and his Holt Manufacturing Company and Clarence, who […]

Lauren Gail Bessette (1964 - 1999)

Sister-in-law of socialite figure John F. Kennedy, Jr., she and her sister Carolyn were killed when the plane they were traveling in crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.   The National Transportation Safety Board later determined that the probable cause was the pilot’s failure to maintain control during descent over water at […]

Loren Murphy Berry (1888 - 1980)

Business Inovator. Born in Wabash, Indiana, he became known as “Mr. Yellow Pages” and was the foremost telephone directory publishers in the United States, handling one out of every four telephone directories in the United States. In 1910, he began The Ohio Guide Printing Company which soon concentrated his efforts on a telephone directory operation. […]

Sidney Bernstein (1899 - 1993)

Lord Sidney Bernstein of Leigh, founder of Granada Television. He was also a film producer, most notably Hitchcock’s “Rope”(1948). (bio by: Kieran Smith)

Victor Jules “Trader Vic” Bergeron, Jr (1902 - 1984)

Businessman. He founded the Trader Vic’s chain of Polynesian restaurants. At the height of “Tiki” popularity, Trader Vic’s had more than two dozen locations around the world. The chain still survives today. Bergeron became acquainted with the food business as a child, when his father was a waiter at San Francisco’s famed Fairmont Hotel and […]

Karl Benz (1844 - 1929)

Engineer, inventor of the two stroke engine and founder of the Benz & Cie. company that later merged with the Daimler Motorengesellschaft AG, which is still a successful business in Germany today.  Family links:  Spouse:  Bertha Ringer Benz (1849 – 1944)* *Calculated relationship

William Burnett Benton (1900 - 1973)

US Senator, Businessman. Benton was president of Bowles & Bowles advertising agency (1929-1935), vice-president of the University of Chicago (1937-1945) and Chairman of the board of Encyclopedia Brittanica (1943-1967). He served as a United States Senator from Connecticut (1949-1953) and Assistant Secretary of State (1945-1947). (bio by: K)  Family links:  Spouse:  Helen Hemingway Benton (1901 […]

Michael Late Benedum (1869 - 1959)

Oil Magnate, Philanthropist. After an early career selling milling machinery, he became involved in the oil industry with the South Penn Oil Company, an affiliate of Standard Oil. He reached the position of Assistant General Land Agent for South Penn in 1892, but left and founded the Benedum-Trees Oil Company in partnership with Joseph Trees. […]