James William Lochridge (1842 - 1909)

Rancher, Businessman. He discovered the first oil field in North Texas while drilling for water on his land three miles southeast of the site of present day Petrolia, Texas. Not being thrilled with the discovery he used the oil for dipping cattle to rid them of parasites, and on April 10, 1903 he formed the […]

Hart Almerrin Massey (1823 - 1896)

Industrialist,  Philanthropist. A native of what is now Alnwick/Haldimand, Ontario,  Canada,  he built the firm that became Massey-Harris, the farm equipment giant that is now Varity. His estate became the basis of the Massey Foundation, a philanthropic enterprise with multiple cultural and charitable interests. He was the grandfather of Governor General Vincent Massey and actor […]

Alfieri Maserati (1887 - 1932)

Italian Entrepreneur. A racing driver and designer of racing cars, founder of Maserati Automobile Company. In 1930, a racing car of his own design, won the Grand Prix of Tripoli. (bio by: Lucy Caldarelli)

Louis Marx (1896 - 1982)

Toy Magnate. At the age of sixteen and the oldest of three, Marx had to help support the family. On a friend’s recommendation, he was hired to work full-time at the Ferdinand J. Strauss Company, a toy manufacturer that produced items for Abraham & Strauss Department Stores and a pioneer in the tin toy industry. […]

Maria Clementine Martin (1775 - 1843)

She was a nun, and after secularization she became a nurse and later a businesswoman. She invented the herbal drink “Melissengeist,” and in 1826 founded the company “Klosterfrau Melissengeist” which continues to be a large and successful business in Germany today.

Christian Frederic Martin (1796 - 1873)

Businessman. A guitar maker, he founded the C.F. Martin and Company. He was born into a family of cabinet makers, but during the 1820’s he moved to Vienna and learned the guitar making trade from famed guitar maker Johann Stauffer. In 1833 he left Germany and opened his own luthier shop in New York City, […]

Laurence Marshall (1889 - 1980)

Electronics Entrepreneur. In 1922 he founded the Raytheon Corporation and was president of the company for 38 years, until his retirement in 1950. His company developed the radar, the microwave and the Hawk missile. A noted anthropologist as well, he and his family organized an expedition and studied the Bushman of the Kalahari Desert in […]

Jim Marshall (1923 - 2012)

Businessman. In early childhood he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, this forced him to spend countless hours and years in the hospital. Due to his diagnoses he was unfit to serve during WWII. At this time he became a drummer and singer, due to the shortage of available musicians. He worked as an electrical engineer during […]

J. Howard Marshall (1905 - 1995)

Buisness Tycoon. Born James Howard Marshall, he is best remembered for his 1994 marriage to Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith.  He was 89 and wheelchair-bound,  she was 26. At the time of his death he left no provision for Smith in his will,  and his estate became the center of a nasty,  highly-publicized legal battle […]

E. Pierce Marshall (1939 - 2006)

Businessman. Born Pierce Marshall, he informally added the E. later in memoriam to his grandfather Everett Pierce, is best remembered for his aggressive legal battle with his step-mother, Anna Nicole Smith, over the fortune of his oil tycoon father, J. Howard Marshall. After the senior Marshall’s death in 1995, Smith, his wife of 14 months, […]

Forrest Edward Mars, Sr (1904 - 1999)

Businessman. Inventor of M&M’s. The son of Mars candy company founder Franklin C. Mars, he left the family business after a dispute with his father and established his own company, Forrest Mars Food Manufacturers. He invented and patented a candy-coated chocolate in 1940 under a partnership with Bruce Murrie, son of a Hershey’s Chocolate executive, […]

J. Willard Marriott (1900 - 1985)

Founder of the Marriott Corporation.  Family links:  Parents:  Hyrum Willard Marriott (1863 – 1939)  Ellen Marie Morris Marriott (1868 – 1967)  Spouse:  Alice Sheets Marriott (1907 – 2000)*  Siblings:  J. Willard Marriott (1900 – 1985)  Paul Morris Marriott (1907 – 1998)*  Russell Stewart Marriott (1911 – 2001)*  Woodrow Duane Marriott (1914 – 2005)* *Calculated relationship

Vincent George Marotta, Sr (1924 - 2015)

American Inventor, Real Estate Developer and Philantropist. Marotta, a former pro football player who had also signed with Major League Baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals, was a co-creator of the Mr. Coffee machine that eventually replaced the standard percolator found in most American homes. A star athlete, he was signed as a center fielder by the […]

Ernest Whitworth Marland (1874 - 1941)

E.W. Marland was a pioneering oil man, starting the company that became Conoco, and Oklahoma’s 10th governor.  Marland lived a lavish lifestyle that made him well known as a social leader in Oklahoma. Marland showered Ponca City with gifts including a hospital, parks, and donations for civic improvements and to many charities. Perhaps the best […]

Simon Marks (1888 - 1964)

Business Magnate. Son of the co-founder of one of Britains leading department stores Marks & Spencer, which has shops the world over. It was Simon Marks, who in the 1920s introduced the famous “St. Michael” brand which is famously sold in Marks & Spencer stores. (bio by: Kieran Smith)  Family links:  Parents:  Michael Marks (1859 […]

Michael Marks (1970 - 1907)

Michael Marks was born into a Polish-Jewish and Belarusian-Jewish family in Słonim, in the Grodno Governorate of the Russian Empire, now a town in Belarus. He emigrated to England around 1882 and moved to Leeds, where a company called Barran was known to employ Jewish refugees. He married Hannah Cohen at the Great Synagogue on […]

Alex Manoogian (1901 - 1996)

Born into an Armenian family in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire (modern-day Izmir, Turkey), Alex Manoogian was 19 when he immigrated to the United States. He was a refugee from the Armenian genocide in the wake of the collapse of the empire during World War I and the rise of the Turkish nationalist movement. Arriving in Bridgeport, Connecticut […]

Eddie Mannix (1891 - 1963)

Eddie Mannix was born in Fort Lee, New Jersey, the son of John and Lizzie (née Striker) Mannix. Christened Joseph Edgar Allen John Mannix, he used Edgar Joseph Mannix as his official name, but was known to most associates as Eddie. After working as a bouncer and then treasurer of the Palisades Park Amusement Park, […]

Mariuccia Mandelli (1925 - 2015)

Mariuccia Mandelli (January 31, 1925 – December 6, 2015) was an Italian fashion designer and entrepreneur. Mandelli established her ready-to-wear fashion house, Krizia, in 1954 by bringing suitcases of samples to shops in Milan out of her Fiat 500. The Guardian has called her the “godmother of Italian fashion.”[1] According to the New York Times, […]

Alexander Majors (1814 - 1900)

In 1848 Alexander Majors started hauling overland freight on the Santa Fe Trail. On his first trip, he set a new time record of 92 days for the 1564-mile (2500 km) round trip. Eventually he employed 4,000 men, including a 15-year-old lad named Billy Cody, later known as Buffalo Bill. Cody became one of his […]

Rowland Hussey Macy (1822 - 1877)

Businessman. He was the founder of the R.H. Macy and Company department store chain. Born into a Quaker family, his father worked as a shopkeeper. When he was 15 years old he worked on the whaling ship, the Emily Morgan, and had a red star tattooed on his forearm that would later become part of […]

John William MacKay (1831 - 1902)

Businessman. A mining magnate and transatlantic cable-layer, he developed the Big Bonanza Silver Mine in Nevada in the 1860s, and the famous Comstock Lode beginning in 1869.  Family links:  Children:  John William MacKay (1870 – 1895)*  Clarence Hungerford Mackay (1874 – 1938)* *Calculated relationship

Bernarr MacFadden (1868 - 1955)

Magazine Publisher.  Family links:  Spouses:  Johnnie Lee Macfadden (____ – 1992)*  Mary Williamson Macfadden (1892 – 1969)*  Children:  Byrne Moore MacFadden (1905 – 1926)*  Byron MacFadden (1921 – 1922)* *Calculated relationship

Robert Lund (1925 - 1995)

Businessman. He started the American Museum of Magic in Marshall, Michigan, which is the largest magic museum in the world, containing some half-million pieces of memorabilia, as well as an archive of thousands of little-known conjurors. Items on display at the museum include the “Milk Can” escape equipment of Houdini. (bio by: Graveaddiction)

Henry Robinson Luce, II (1898 - 1967)

Magazine Magnate. Publisher of Sports Illustrated, Life and Time Magazine.  Family links:  Parents:  Henry Winters Luce (1868 – 1941)  Spouse:  Clare Boothe Luce (1903 – 1987)*  Children:  Henry R Luce (1925 – 2005)* *Calculated relationship

John Baptiste Charles Lucas (1758 - 1842)

Born in France, Lucas happened to meet Benjamin Franklin, the U.S. Ambassador to the French court. Fascinated by Franklin’s conversations on the new democracy & the vast opportunities of a new frontier, he decided to emigrate to America. He arrived in 1784 & moved to St. Louis in 1805 where he was appointed Commissioner of […]

Henry Victor Lucas (1857 - 1910)

Lucas was a St. Louis millionaire. He owned the St. Louis Maroons baseball team. He also formed the Union Association & became president of the league.  (bio by: Connie Nisinger)  Family links:  Parents:  James H. Lucas (1800 – 1873)  Marie Emilie Des Ruisseaux Lucas (1815 – 1878)  Spouse:  Louise Espenschied Clopton (1858 – 1940)*  Children: […]

Cyril Lord (1911 - 1984)

Cyril Lord (12 July 1911 – 29 May 1984) was a British entrepreneur known principally for the manufacture of carpets during the 1960s. Born in Droylsden in Lancashire, Lord spent his early years living in a community of textile mill-workers. Lord was married three times. In 1936 he married Bessie Greenwood, and they had one son […]

Marcus Loew (1870 - 1927)

Pioneer Motion Picture Executive.  As founder of the Loew’s theatre chain and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios,  Marcus Loew played a major role in the emergence of Hollywood as the world’s movie capital.  Born Max Loew in New York City,  the son of Austrian-Jewish immigrants,  he grew up in poverty and dropped out of school at age nine […]

John “Jack” Loeks (1919 - 2004)

Businessman. Founder and president of the Jack Loeks Theatres chain. (bio by: Butterfly)