Vocation : Business : Other Business

Donald E. Johnson (June 5, 1924 – August 10, 1999) was an American businessman who served as the Administrator of Veterans Affairs from 1969 to 1974.He died of cancer on August 10, 1999, in Fredericksburg, Virginia at age 75.

Rosa Valetti (born Rosa Alice Vallentin; 25 January 1876 – 10 December 1937) was a German actress, cabaret performer, and singer.

Maurice Leblanc (1857 – 1923) was a French engineer and industrialist.
Born in Paris, Leblanc worked primarily in improving induction motors and alternators, where he invented the damper winding. He also invented an improved vacuum pump and worked in the area of refrigeration.
The December 1, 1880 French publication "La Lumière électrique", published an article by Leblanc entitled "Etude sur la transmission électrique des impressions lumineuses". In this article Leblanc outlined five functions required for a television system.

a transducer to convert light into electricity
a scanner to break up a picture into its constituent parts
a method of synchronising the receiver and the transmitter
a means of converting electrical signals back into light
a screen for viewing the imageLeblanc was awarded the Prix Poncelet for 1913 by the French Academy of Sciences.

Marcel Renault (14 May 1872 – 26 May 1903) was a French racing driver and industrialist, co-founder of the carmaker Renault. He was the brother of Louis and Fernand Renault.
Marcel Renault, Louis Renault, and Fernand Renault co-founded Renault Frères based on a automobile prototype built by Louis. The brothers took orders to construct new automobiles as early as 1899.Renault was born in Paris; he and his brothers jointly founded the Renault company on 25 February 1899. He and Louis raced the cars it built starting the next year. He died in Payré, at the age of 31, of severe injuries he sustained during the Paris-Madrid race.
After his death, a statue was built in Renault's memory which later would be destroyed by the German attacks during World War II.

Léon Serpollet (4 October 1858 – 1 February 1907) was a French engineer and developer of flash steam boilers and steam automobiles.
Léon Serpollet was born in Culoz, in the Ain department of France in 1859, son of the carpenter Auguste Serpollet. He went into the family business with his brother Henri (1848–1915) producing circular saws and wood working machines. It was when seeking to power their workshops that Henri came up with the idea of flash steam generation, with a patent applied for on 25 October 1879.
Leon went to Paris to study engineering at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, and at the same time he continued to develop the flash steam concept with his brother by post. In 1886 the two brothers arrived at their best design of flash steam boiler, and then shortly afterwards they went into business building flash steam boilers, initially small scale to power lighting systems and pumps, but soon to power tricycles and steam boats, and eventually to cars, trams, and buses.
Not only was Léon Serpollet a talented engineer, but he also drove his own cars in various races and rallies, for in the first years of the 20th century his steam cars were faster than any internal combustion engine cars, as he proved when he took the world land speed record in 1902 at Nice promenade at 120.80 km/h.
Serpollet's steam cars meant he had contact with many distinguished customers, including the future King Edward VII, the Maharajah of Mysore, and the Shah of Persia - Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar, who in 1900 conferred on him the Order of the Lion and the Sun. In 1900 he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.
Leon Serpollet died aged 48 of a 'malignant disease', and with his passing the interest in steam cars seemed to wane, especially in France, there were no steam cars on show at the Paris Salon automobile show of 1908. His influence on the automotive industry had been substantial as stated in many obituaries, for example "The death of M. Leon Serpollet has removed from our midst a pioneer in the motor industry, whose genius in the cause of automobilism can only be compared to that of Stephenson for the locomotive"...."The death of M. Serpollet is a heavy loss to the industry." In another obituary "M. Serpollet's name has been for a score of years as well known in the world of the steam motor-car as is that of Marquis de Dion in the region of internal combustion vehicles".
Léon Serpollet is commemorated by a statue by Jean Boucher at the Place Saint-Ferdinand (48.877969°N 2.288112°E / 48.877969; 2.288112) in Paris' 17th arrondissement, and the Parc Léon Serpollet (48.89228°N 2.33831°E / 48.89228; 2.33831) in its 18th arrondissement.

Benoît Fourneyron (31 October 1802 – 31 July 1867) was a French engineer, born in Saint-Étienne, Loire. Fourneyron made significant contributions to the development of water turbines.
Benoît Fourneyron was educated at the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne, a nearby engineering school that had recently opened. After he graduated in 1816, he spent the next few years in mines and ironworks.
Around this time, a number of French engineers—including some of Fourneyron's former teachers—were starting to apply the mathematical techniques of modern science to the ancient mechanism called the waterwheel.
For centuries, waterwheels had been used to convert the energy of streams into mechanical power, mostly for milling grain. But the new machines of the Industrial Revolution required more power, and by the 1820s there was enormous interest in making waterwheels more efficient.

Guy Degrenne (3 August 1925 – 7 November 2006) was a French businessman who specialised in cutlery and silverware. He has founded the Guy Degrenne group, since 1987 a subsidiary of holding 'Table de France'.

Amedeo "Amédée" Gordini (23 June 1899 – 25 May 1979) was an Italian-born race car driver and sports car manufacturer in France.

Guillaume Peltier (French pronunciation: [ɡijom pɛltje]; born 27 August 1976) is a French politician, former teacher and business leader who represented the 2nd constituency of the Loir-et-Cher department in the National Assembly from 2017 to 2022. He has also served in the Departmental Council of Loir-et-Cher for the canton of Chambord since 2021. Peltier is a member of the far-right political party Reconquête.