manufacturerBorn: 12/8/1861Birthplace: Boston, Mass. He quit high school to begin work in his grandfather's Flint, Michigan, lumberyard. By 1885 he had organized the Flint Road Cart Company, which…
(1st Viscount Leverhulme of the Western Isles)soap-maker, philanthropistBorn: 9/19/1851Birthplace: Bolton, Greater Manchester, England Lever and his brother, James Darcy Lever, turned the soap-…
housing developerBorn: 2/11/1907Birthplace: New York City Levitt formed a construction company in 1929 with his brother, who focused on the architectural details, and his father, who managed the…
railroad developer, financierBorn: 5/8/1821Birthplace: New Brunswick, N.J. Being the son of Cornelius Vanderbelt did little to secure William a job in the family empire. His father regarded him as…
British newsagentBorn: 1792 He got his start selling newspapers in his father's business in 1812 with his brother Henry Edward. They moved beyond their father's Strand shop using railways and fast…
ironmaster, glassmakerBorn: 5/13/1729 Birthplace: Cologne, Germany He emigrated to Philadelphia in 1750, and established iron forges in Lancaster and Berks Counties, Pennsylvania. Profits from the…
railroad officialBorn: 1837Birthplace: Brownington, Vt. Having graduated from Bell's Business College in Chicago (1855), he began his career in railroads as a station agent of the Milwaukee &…
actorBorn: 3/13/1950Birthplace: Miami, Florida Macy's acting career began somewhat inauspiciously doing voice-overs for commercials. He had trained under David Mamet at Goddard College in Vermont…
civil rights leaderBorn: 3/17/1933Birthplace: Vicksburg, Mississippi Evers-Williams married civil rights leader Medgar Evers in 1951. The couple worked for the NAACP against segregation and…
religious leader, historianBorn: 1849Birthplace: Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania Enlisting at 14, Williams fought for the North in the Civil War. In 1874, he became the first Black person to graduate…