Industrialist, philanthropist and longtime principal owner of the Chicago White Sox. He worked in the Chicago South Side stockyards and during World War II he served as an electronic technician in a Navy division headquartered at the Great Lakes Naval Center. Later he founded Mazer Chemicals, a manufacturer of chemical emulsifiers and surfactants and an employer of 250 people. In 1985 he sold his company to Pittsburgh Paint and Glass and soon thereafter realized a lifelong dream of acquiring a substantial ownership interest in the Chicago White Sox, of which he became the largest individual investor and held a permanent seat on the club’s Board of Directors. In 1981 he and his partners purchased the White Sox from Bill Veeck for $22.5 million. In 2004 Forbes listed the Sox’s worth at $223 million and in 2013 the franchise would attract offers estimated at about $300 million. (bio by: Bill Lee, The Baseball Undertaker)