Samuel Sloan (1817 - 1907)

Railroad magnate. When Samuel Sloan started out for himself, New York was a small and primitive community. His first job was at the foot of the list of clerks of McBride & Company, a well-known (Irish linen) importing house. When about twenty-six years old, Mr. Sloan married Miss Margaret Elmendorf of Somerville, N.J., a daughter […]

Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr (1875 - 1966)

American corporate executive and philanthropist, best known as the longtime chairman of General Motors Corporation (GM). He was born Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr. in New Haven, Connecticut on May 23, 1875, the son of a coffee and tea importer. In 1892, at the age of 17, he graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a […]

Col Christopher Columbus “C.C.” Slaughter, Sr (1837 - 1919)

Western Businessman. He was a ranching pioneer, banker and philanthropist, noted as the “Cattle King of Texas”. As a boy he worked cattle with his father and at age twelve helped drive the family’s ninety-two-head herd to a ranch on the Trinity River in Freestone County, Texas, where the family moved in 1852. At age […]

Jack H. Skirball (1896 - 1985)

Movie Producer, Developer, Philantropist. Skirball attended the University of Cincinnati and Western Reserve College in Cleveland then went on to study for the rabbinate at Hebrew Union College. After his ordination in 1921, he served as an assistant rabbi in Cleveland for two years and rabbi of a temple in Evansville, Indiana, for seven years. […]

Harry Ford Sinclair (1876 - 1956)

Industrialist.  Founder of Sinclair Oil and key figure in the Teapot Dome scandal.  Born in Wheeling,  West Virginia and raised in Independence,  Kansas,  he initially worked as a pharmacist with his father.  He entered the oil industry as a lease broker in 1901 and with a partner,  Edward White,  formed the White Oil Company.  An […]

Robert Simpson (1834 - 1897)

Founder of Simpson’s Department Store.

J. R. “Jack” Simplot (1909 - 2008)

Businessman. Born John Richard Simplot, at his death he was the oldest billionaire on the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans, with a fortune of over $3 billion. At age 14 he quit school and left home, working on a farm while looking for opportunities to make money, and eventually using the profit from several […]

Warren L. Simmons (1927 - 2006)

Entrepreneur. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, Simmons worked as a pilot for Pan American Airlines from 1950 until 1970. After Pan American, Simmons looked towards developing what at the time was an unsightly San Francisco waterfront. On October 4, 1978, after years of planning and pushing, Simmons officially opened San Francisco’s Pier […]

Harold Clark Simmons (1931 - 2013)

Businessman. Born in the town of Golden, Texas to two teachers of modest means, he enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin, where he received both his Bachelors Degree (1951) and his Masters Degree  (1952) in economics. Becoming a bank examiner, at the age of 29, using money he had saved and a bank […]

Jacob Siegel (1841 - 1924)

Founded American Lady Corset company.  Family links:  Spouse:  Rosalie Blumenstein Siegel (1849 – 1917)*  Children:  Joseph Siegel (1874 – 1933)*  Eugene Siegel (1878 – 1948)*  Leo Siegel (1888 – 1947)*  Adele Siegel Mayer (1889 – 1944)* *Calculated relationship

Benjamin Siegel (1860 - 1936)

Founded B Siegel and Company.  Family links:  Spouse:  Sophie Siegel (1876 – 1955)*  Children:  Frederick Hearst Siegel (1905 – 1908)* *Calculated relationship

Rufus Sibley (1841 - 1928)

Businessman. He co-founder of Sibley, Lindsay and Curr, which was for over a hundred years one of the most successful department stores in the United States. It was eventually bought out by Kaufmanns in the late 20th century.  (bio by: Mount Hope NY)  Family links:  Spouses:  Martha A Sibley (1846 – 1883)*  Elizabeth Conkey Sibley […]

Hiram Sibley (1807 - 1888)

Businessman. Founder of Western Union. He was a friend of Czar Alexander I of Russia and the then Secretary of State William H. Seward, and persuaded the former to sell Alaska to the United States with the help of a United States government check supplied by the latter.  Family links:  Parents:  Benjamin Sibley (1768 – […]

Sargent Shriver, Jr (1915 - 2011)

US Political Leader, Civic Activist.  Born Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr., he graduated from Yale University in 1938 and Yale Law School in 1941.  An opponent of involvement in World War II, after the United States entered the conflict he served in the United States Navy, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Hired by Joseph Kennedy […]

Bernard “Toots” Shor (1903 - 1977)

Restaurateur. He was the owner and colorful host of Toots Shor’s Restaurant, a New York City landmark for over 30 years. Born in Philadelphia, he moved to New York as a teenager during the Prohibition era and gained a reputation as a speakeasy bouncer, guardian, and manager. In 1940 he opened his own restaurant and […]

Samuel Shopsowitz (1919 - 1984)

Founder of Shopsy’s (the Toronto delicatessen).

Edwin J. Shoemaker (1907 - 1998)

Inventor of the La-Z-Boy Recliner.  Family links:  Spouse:  Ruth Marion Buck Shoemaker (1909 – 1991)* *Calculated relationship

Frederick Shivelbine (1970 - 1970)

Founder of the Shivelbine Music Store.

Edwin H. Shipstad (1907 - 1988)

Co-founded Shipstad and Johnsons Ice Follies.  Family links:  Spouse:  Lulu Anna Heim Shipstad (1907 – 1990)* *Calculated relationship

George Shima (1970 - 1926)

George Shima (1864–1926) was a Japanese American businessman in California who became the first Japanese American millionaire. At one point, he produced about 85% of the state’s potato crop, which earned him the nickname “The Potato King”. Born Ushijima Kinji (牛島謹爾?) in Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan, he entered a preliminary course at the Tokyo Commercial School (now […]

Eiichi Shibusawa (1840 - 1931)

Multi-talented businessman. He developed several business  enterprises that established a groundwork for the future development of business and promoted the social welfare of Japan. Among his businesses were the Daiichi Kokuritsu Ginko Bank (now the Daiichi Kangyo Ginko Bank) and the Fukaya Brick Manufacturing Company. Shibusawa called for the “unity of morality and the economy,” […]

Henry Alden Sherwin (1842 - 1916)

Business Magnate. Founder of Sherwin-Williams paint company.  Family links:  Parents:  Alden Wheelock Sherwin (1816 – 1889)  Rachel Batchelder Sherwin (1818 – 1895)  Spouse:  Frances Mary Smith Sherwin (1843 – 1920)*  Children:  Belle Sherwin (1868 – 1955)*  Katherine Sherwin (1870 – 1873)*  William Alden Sherwin (1872 – 1897)*  Prudence Sherwin (1874 – 1938)* *Calculated relationship

Louis Michael Sherry (1856 - 1926)

Family Restauranteur and Chocolatier.He was married to Marie Bertha Grandjean Sherry.  Family links:  Spouse:  Marie Bertha Grandjean Sherry (1853 – 1941)* *Calculated relationship

John Graves Shedd (1850 - 1926)

Businessman, Philanthropist. He was the 2nd president and chairman of the board of Marshall Field & Company, an upscale department store in Chicago, Illinois, that would become its largest store and the largest wholesale and dry goods company in the world at that time. Born on a farm in Alstead, New Hampshire, he received his […]

Greg Shaw (1949 - 2004)

Greg Shaw was born in San Francisco, California. He began writing about rock and roll music as a young teenager. His first zines were Tolkien-related, but among them was also a mimeographed sheet called Mojo Navigator (full title, “Mojo-Navigator Rock and Roll News”). Founded in 1966 by David Harris, with Shaw’s assistance, Mojo Navigator is […]

Clay L. Shaw (1913 - 1974)

New Orleans businessman, a co-founder of the N.O. Trade Mart, who was accused by District Attorney Jim Garrison of being one of the masterminds of the JFK assassination.  After a trial, Shaw was acquitted of conspiracy-related charges in March 1969.  His trial was featured prominently in Oliver Stone’s “JFK,” in which Shaw was portrayed by […]

Walter Benona Sharp (1870 - 1912)

Business Magnate. Born in Tennessee, his mother died when he was eight and his father moved his family to Texas. He and business partner Howard Hughes Sr. Devoloped the Hughes Drill Bit and co-founded The Sharp-Hughes Tool Company. After his death his wife became dusgruntled with the way Howard Hughes Sr. was running the company […]

Samuel W. Sessions (1826 - 1902)

Founded the Cleveland Nut Co., which became one of the nation’s leading fastener companies, Lamson & Sessions.  Their family monument was installed at Riverside Cemetery in 1877 for $10,000 and is a local tourist attraction. (bio by: Joyce)

Harry Gordon Selfridge, Sr (1858 - 1947)

Businessman. American born, he founded the British department store “Selfridges”. His father owned a small dry-goods shop in Ripon, Wisconsin, but went away with the Union cavalry in the Civil War of 1861 to 1865, attaining rank of Major, and never returning to his family. In 1879, aged 21 he joined the retail firm of […]

Kenneth W. Self (1916 - 2003)

Business Magnate. A mechanic by trade, Kenneth Self started working in the maintenance shop of Consolidated Freightway’s Corporation in 1940. By 1947 CE founder Leland James promoted Ken Self to production manager in the Portland office. Design changes that Ken Self directed included the first 90 degree tilting cab, the first double trailer truck. A […]