Marga Gil Röesset (1908 - 1932)

Artist. At the age of twelve, she illustrated a book of her sister, entitled “El Niño de Oro.” In 1930, she triumphed with her sculpture “Adán y Eva.” Then began a prolific work, that was tragically ended by her suicide at the age of 24, due to her unhappy love for the poet Juan Ramón […]

H. R. Giger (1940 - 2014)

Artist, Film Director.  A surrealist painter, sculptor and set designer, he is probably best remembered for his contributions to the special effects team that won a 1980 Academy Award for Best Achievement for Visual Effects for their design work on the 1979 science-fiction horror film “Alien,” for which he is credited with the design of […]

John Donaldson Voelker (1903 - 1991)

John Voelker was born in Ishpeming, Michigan on June 29, 1903, to George and Anne Voelker. He attended Northern Michigan Coilege (now University) from 1924 to 1925 before transferring to the University of Michigan Law School, graduating in 1928. While at the University of Michigan, he met and married Grace Taylor. They married on August […]

John Gibson (1817 - 1892)

Architect. Born in Warwickshire. John was an assistant to Sir Charles Barry and assisted him in the drawings of the Houses of Parliament. John was a prominent bank architect at a time when joint-stock banking was an innovation. His 1849 National Bank of Scotland branch in Glasgow led to perhaps his best-known work, the former […]

John Curtis Underwood (1809 - 1873)

US Jurist. Judge of the United States District Court. In 1856 campaigned for the Republican ticket and was so outspoken against slavery he had to leave the state. Campaigned for Abraham Lincoln, in the 1860 campaign, and was rewarded with an appointment as fifth auditor of the treasury in 1861. In 1864, Underwood was appointed […]

Charles Dana Gibson (1867 - 1944)

Artist. Born the son of an amateur artist in Roxbury, Massachusetts, he learned silhouette cutting from his father at an early age. He attended the Art Students League School in Manhattan for two years before he started plying his trade as a freelance artist, selling sketches to Life Magazine. Harper’s Weekly, Scribners and Colliers Magazine. […]

Charles Tucker (1970 - 1910)

Murder Victim. London city policeman who, with his colleague Robert Bentley, was ‘killed in the execution of their duty while endeavouring to apprehend a number of armed burglars in Exchange Buildings, Cutler St.’ The burglars were actually Russian anarchists who later held a shoot-out at the ‘Siege of Sidney Street’ in 1911. (bio by: David […]

James Gibbs (1682 - 1754)

Architect. Born in Scotland, he trained as an architect in Rome, and practised mainly in England. His most important works are St Martin-in-the-Fields, in London, and the cylindrical, domed Radcliffe Camera at Oxford University. Through the influence of Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford, James was made one of the surveyors to the commissioners for building […]

François Denis Tronchet (1726 - 1806)

Lawyer, defended Louis XVI. Hid during the Terror. NapoleonÕs placeman in the 1800 commission to devise a new Civil Code. Entered Pantheon 1806. (bio by: David Conway)

Grinling Gibbons (1648 - 1721)

Sculptor and Wood Carver. Very little is known about his early life. He was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He moved to Deptford, England around 1667, and by 1693 had accepted commissions from the royal family and had been appointed as a master carver. By 1680 he was already known as the “King’s Carver”, and carried […]

Thomas Whitaker Trenchard (1863 - 1942)

Jurist. He gained everlasting notority as the trial judge in the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping case.

Giovanni Giacometti (1868 - 1933)

Artist.  He helped introduce modernism to Swiss painting in the early 20th Century. Giacometti was born in Stampa,  Switzerland,  into a family of Italian descent.  He studied painting in Munich and Paris (1886 to 1891),  and lived in Italy before settling in his hometown.  On a visit to Munich in 1901 he discovered the work […]

Jean-Baptiste Treilhard (1742 - 1810)

Lawyer who played a leading part in devising the Napoleonic civil and criminal codes. Entered Pantheon 1810. (bio by: David Conway)

Alberto Giacometti (1901 - 1966)

Sculptor.  His signature works are elongated human figures that convey a sense of isolation and anguish.  Their rough,  charred-looking surfaces capture light and shadow in compelling ways.  Giacometti arrived at this style after World War II and many see it as existential commentary on the postwar human condition,  though the artist himself claimed he was […]

Henri Torres (1891 - 1966)

Great french lawyer.

Vittorio Ghiberti (1970 - 1970)

Sculptor,  Entrepreneur.  The son of pioneer Renaissance artist Lorenzo Ghiberti.  Born in Florence,  Italy,  he studied sculpting and goldsmithing with his father and by 1437 was working as his assistant on the great “Gates of Paradise” for the Florence Baptistery.  He was closely involved in the casting and gilding of that masterpiece and Lorenzo made […]

Clyde Anderson Tolson (1900 - 1975)

Deputy Director Federal Bureau of Investigation.  He carried out the policies and directives of bureau boss J. Edgar Hoover for over forty years. Clyde Anderson Tolson was born in a rural area near Laredo, Missouri to farmer James W. Tolson and his wife.  He moved with the family to Cedar Rapids as his father gave […]

Lorenzo Ghiberti (1970 - 1455)

Sculptor.  His fame rests on the two sets of gilded bronze doors he created for the Baptistery of Florence,  Italy.  He worked on them for nearly 50 years.  The second set,  known as the “Gates of Paradise” (1425 to 1452),  is among the great masterpieces of Renaissance art.  Ghiberti was born in Florence,  and trained […]

J. D. Tippit (1924 - 1963)

The Dallas Police officer allegedly killed by Lee Harvey Oswald on the day of the Kennedy assassination.  Evidence fully indicates that Lee Harvey Oswald killed officer Tippit, but since Oswald was never brought to trial, it remains only an allegation.  Born J. D. Tippit in Clarksville, Texas, the oldest of six children to Edgar Lee […]

Mark Gertler (1891 - 1939)

Painter. Born in Spitalfields, London, Gertler was a pacifist and refused to support Britain’s involvement in the First World War. After the Battle of the Somme Gertler painted Merry-Go-round (1916). Considered by many art critics as the most important British painting of the First World War, Merry-go-round, shows a group of military and civilian figures […]

William Matthew “Bill” Tilghman, Jr (1854 - 1924)

Deputy US Marshall and Folk Figure. As a young man growing up, he had no formal education through the school system. He was well trained in all those skills that were necessary for life on the frontier. He left home at the age of fifteen and became a buffalo hunter with his older brother, Richard. […]

Vance Bryden Gerry (1929 - 2005)

Disney Animation Artist. In 1955, he began his career at Disney Studios as an artist, he contributed to the television shows, “The Goofy Success Story,” “Goofy’s Cavalcade of Sports,” and “How to Relax,” also features “The Truth About Mother Goose,” and “Donald in Mathmagic Land.” As a layout artist, he worked on the films “101 […]

Henry Andrew “Heck” Thomas (1850 - 1912)

Deputy US Marshal and Folk Figure. He was the youngest of 12 children born to Lovick Pierce and Martha Ann Fullwood Bedell Thomas. When he was only 12 years old he joined his father and his uncle and went off to the Civil War. They were officers in the 35th Georgia Infantry and Heck was […]

Théodore Géricault (1791 - 1824)

Artist. Major figure of French Romantic painting. He painted an image of a scandalous event of his era on a heroic scale, “Raft of the Medusa” (replica of the painting appears on the grave). Cause of death: Horseback riding accident

Telford Taylor (1908 - 1998)

Attorney, Author.  Chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials. Born in Schenectady, New York, he graduated from Harvard Law School with his degree in law in 1932.  His inital entrance into the public forum began at the end of World War II when, as a young Army Colonel at Nuremberg,  he helped write the rules for […]

François Gerard (1770 - 1837)

Artist. The son of a French father and Italian mother, he is best remembered for his portraits, especially of Napoleon Bonaparte, Empress Josephine, and other family members. Born in Rome, Italy, his father was employed in the home of the French ambassador. When he was 12 years old, he was admitted into the Pension du […]

Alfred Swaine Taylor (1806 - 1880)

Physician. Medical expert for trials. Authority on poisons. Quoted by Dorothy Sayers and Conan Doyle.

Ernest George (1839 - 1970)

Sir Ernest George R.A. Noted architect whose work included Grimsdyke, London as well as the buildings at Golders Green Crematorium. (bio by: Kieran Smith)

Vic Gentils (1919 - 1997)

Painter and Sculptor. The son of a french father and a flemish mother. Born in Ilfracombe, Devon. His father returned with his family to Belgium in 1925, settling in Antwerp. Vic trained as a painter and decorator, his father’s profession, and Vic’s skills in woodworking and gilding were a crucial part of his later practice […]

John Patrick “Jigsaw” St. John (1918 - 1995)

Police officer and LAPD Homicide detective. Renowned for his investigations of many of Los Angeles’s highest-profile murder cases, he served 43 years as a homicide detective beginning in 1949. One of his first assignments was the notorious Black Dahlia murder, a case he worked on-and-off until his retirement in 1993. His nickname, “Jigsaw John”, caught […]