Vocation : Business : Entrepreneur

Léopold Louis-Dreyfus (5 March 1833 – 9 April 1915) was a French businessman, diplomat, and investor who was best known as the founder of the Louis Dreyfus Group, and patriarch of the Louis-Dreyfus family.
The French government awarded him the title Commander of the Legion of Honour in 1912.

Richard Müller (9 December 1880 – 11 May 1943) was a German socialist, metal worker, union shop steward, and later historian. Trained as a lathe-operator, Müller later became an industrial unionist and organizer of mass-strikes against World War I. In 1918 he was a leading figure of the council movement in the German Revolution. In the 1920s he wrote a three-volume history of the German Revolution.

Charles F. Bowman (May 3, 1919 – April 8, 2009) was an American businessman who partnered with Orville Redenbacher to create a popping corn which won a third of the US market for unpopped popcorn by the mid-1970s. The corn was marketed as Orville Redenbacher's and is now owned by ConAgra Brands.
Charlie Bowman graduated from Purdue University. In 1951, Bowman and Redenbacher bought Chester, Inc., a company based in Boone Grove, Indiana, that specialized in hybrid seeds. Redenbacher's eponymous popcorn was the result of nearly twenty years of research at Chester and was launched in 1970. Bowman served as the company's president while Redenbacher drove the scientific research. Bowman retired as president in 2006 at age 87.
Bowman lived in Holland, Michigan after his retirement. He died in 2009, almost 14 years after Redenbacher's death. Bowman's survivors included his wife of 64 years, Mary, and three daughters: Judy Anthrop, June Bowman and Connie Bowman.

Anthony DeSantis, KStJ (January 5, 1914 - June 6, 2007) was an American entrepreneur and theater owner in Chicago, Illinois. He is most well known for the foundation of the area's Drury Lane theatres. During DeSantis' lifetime, his empire included six separate theaters.

Estel Wood "Ed" Kelley (1917–2003) is considered the "modern-day" founder of Steak 'n Shake, a chain of sit-down, old-fashioned style restaurants known for their Steakburgers and hand-dipped milkshakes. In 1981, E. W. Kelley & Associates, a group led by E. W. Kelley, bought controlling interest in Steak 'n Shake, and grew the company from a small chain to the more than 450 location chain it is today (2006).

George Walther Sr. (August 13, 1876 – April 10, 1961) was an American inventor, engineer, businessman, civic leader and the holder of over 100 patents for truck wheels, brake drums, fifth wheels, and landing gear/legs for the trucking industry. He was the founder of the Dayton Steel Foundry.
Walther developed the first practical cast steel wheel for solid rubber tires. This was a basic but critical contribution to the evolution of the early trucking industry and the U.S. Army trucks in World War I.
Walther followed the design of the cast steel wheel for solid rubber tires with the design of a cast steel wheel for pneumatic tires and then the design of an improved brake drum. When semi-trailer trucks were developed, he designed improved versions of the fifth wheel and landing legs for semi-trailer trucks. Walther's engineering skills resulted in patents for many developments of truck wheels, brake drums, fifth wheels, and landing legs that have helped to expand the role of trucks in the transportation industry.

Jean-Antoine Auguste Metz (8 August 1812 – 22 June 1854) was a Luxembourgian entrepreneur, politician, and lawyer. He was a major player in the growing steel industry in Luxembourg during the nineteenth century, as well as a leading liberal member of the Chamber of Deputies, along with his brothers.
Born in Luxembourg City as the youngest of nine children of Jean Metz, Auguste Metz attended the Athénée de Luxembourg, before leaving to study law at the University of Paris in 1833. He gained his licence to practice law in France, but returned to Luxembourg, where he became involved in the steel industry. In 1837, Metz and his brothers Charles and Norbert, were given a ten-year lease of the steel mill at Berbourg. They formed a company, Auguste Metz & Cie, along with Théodore Pescatore, for the purpose of expanding and redeveloping the site. The company expanded, taking over foundries at Grundhof, in the Red Lands, at Eich, and at Fischbach.He first became involved in politics through his opposition to the Third Partition of Luxembourg in 1839. In 1848, Metz sat on Luxembourg's Constituent Assembly, and then the first Chamber of Deputies, elected in 1848 to represent Grevenmacher. He was targeted in the 1854 election by the Simons government. He would not live to see the assembly of the new Chamber of Deputies, however, as he died in Eich just eight days after the election, having fallen ill inspecting the foundry at Berbourg, exacerbated by tonsillitis.He married Petronille Laeis on 17 August 1841. They had four children, including Léon Metz, who became a member of the Chamber of Deputies for forty-three years and Mayor of Esch-sur-Alzette for three years.

Frank Langton Christensen (June 1, 1910 – September 6, 2001) was an American athlete. After receiving all-state honors at Granite High School in baseball, football, and basketball, Christensen played fullback at the University of Utah. "Crashing Chris" was the university's first three-time All-American. In 1930–31, he was named Third-team All-American, and in 1932 he earned First-team honors. During those years, the Utes owned a 21-3-1 record.
Christensen holds the school's all-time career-scoring mark with 235 points. He is second in individual points in a season, scoring 100 points in 1930. Christensen is credited with scoring 13 points in 13 seconds vs. Colorado College.
The fullback was honored as a Silver Anniversary All-American in Sports Illustrated.
Christensen went on to the pros with the Detroit Lions (1934–37), where he was a member of the 1935 World Championship team.Christensen was also successful in business. He helped revolutionize the mining and petroleum industry and is recognized as the driving force behind the introduction of diamond drill bits into the petroleum exploration industry. Originally, the company manufactured diamond drill bits for the western mining industry, but the founders quickly envisioned a strong market in petroleum. By 1946, Christensen diamond bits were introduced into the Rangley field of Colorado. The bits were so successful the company decided to make petroleum drilling its primary market. His company, Christensen Diamond Products Company, became the world's largest producer of industrial diamond products.By the 1960s, the company was expanding into international markets. Christensen also developed an erosion-resistant matrix for diamond bits and introduced the 250P-core barrel system that quickly became the industry standard. In the 1970s, downhole tools and motors formed the basis for a broader drilling package that included the Navi-Drill downhole motor. Later in the decade, Christensen Diamond Products introduced the synthetic polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bit.
In 1978, Christensen Diamond Products was acquired by Norton Co. of Worcester, Massachusetts, and in 1983 the company's name was changed to Norton Christensen. Norton Christensen merged with Eastman Whipstock, the world's largest directional drilling company, in 1986 to form Eastman Christensen. In 1990, Eastman Christensen was acquired by Baker Hughes, who subsequently merged the company with its Hughes Tool Company to form Hughes Christensen.
Christensen died on September 6, 2001, at the age of 91.

Frank Kell Cahoon (June 20, 1934 – January 30, 2013) was an American politician who served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1965 to 1969.Cahoon was born in Austin, Texas and grew up in Wichita Falls, Texas. Cahoon went to Colorado School of Mines and University of Texas at Austin. Cahoon served in the United States Army. He was involved in the oil business in Midland, Texas. Cahoon served on the Midland City Council. He was the state's only Republican state legislator in 1965.He was named after his maternal grandfather, Frank Kell.