Seymour H. Knox I

popular name: Caleb Bradham

date_of_death: February 19, 1934

age:

cause_of_death: Hardening of the arteries with complications

claim_to_fame: Business and Finance

best_know_for: Caleb Bradham was an American pharmacist who is best known as the inventor of soft drink Pepsi. Around 1890, he dropped out of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, owing to his father's business going bankrupt. After returning to North Carolina, he was a public school teacher for about a year, and soon thereafter opened a drug store in New Bern named the "Bradham Drug Company" that, like many other drug stores of the time, also housed a soda fountain. Middle Street and Pollock Street in downtown New Bern is where Bradham, in 1893, invented the recipe—a blend of kola nut extract, vanilla, and "rare oils"—for what was initially known as "Brad's Drink." On August 28, 1898 was Bradham renamed the drink Pepsi-Cola, named after a combination of the terms “pepsin” and “cola,” as he believed that his drink aided digestion much like the pepsin enzyme does, even though it was not used as an ingredient. His assistant James Henry King was the first to taste the new drink. At the peak of success in 1922, Bradham had authorized Pepsi-Cola franchises in over 24 states.

popular name: James Mayer de Rothschild

date_of_death: November 17, 1868

age: 76

cause_of_death: Natural causes

claim_to_fame: Business and Finance

best_know_for: Baron James Mayer de Rothschild (1792–1868) was a prominent 19th-century banker and a key figure in the Rothschild banking family. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, he was the second son of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, the patriarch who established the family's banking empire. James moved to Paris in the early 1800s, where he and his sons started as luxury item dealers and coin and commercial paper traders. James played a critical role in the development of the Rothschild banking network, particularly in France, and became one of the wealthiest men of his time. James was instrumental in financing the construction of major infrastructure projects, such as railways, and was also involved in international finance, including lending to European governments. Throughout his life, he was a key player in European politics, often working behind the scenes to support governments with financial backing, particularly during the revolutions of 1848 and the Crimean War. Baron James Rothschild’s success and wealth solidified the Rothschild family as one of the most influential banking dynasties in Europe during the 19th century. He passed away in 1868, and his legacy continued through his descendants, who continued to manage and expand the family's financial empire. It is estimated that the total collective wealth of all the Rothschild families combined exceed $1.0 trillion dollars. Upon his death, he was laid to rest at Cimetière du Père-Lachaise in Paris, France.

popular name: Nina Ricci

date_of_death: November 28, 1970

age: 87

cause_of_death: Natural causes

claim_to_fame: Business and Finance

best_know_for: Mme. Ricci, who established her design house in 1932 and built a reputation before World War II for graceful, detailed and feminine clothes, was born in Turin, Italy. A near‐con temporary of Gabrielle Chanel, Mme. Ricci was almost the antithesis of the better‐known “Coco” Chanel, since she was neither a public personality nor a headline‐making designer. Her interest in fashion began in childhood, when she began dressing her dolls. At 13, she came to Paris and found work as a sewing girl, and after five years was promoted to the head of the workroom. At 22, she began designing her own models. The House of Nina Ricci grew rapidly throughout the thirties and their one-room maison de couture became 11 floors in 3 buildings, operations developed by WWII to include leather goods and fashion accessories. She was noted for the graceful draping of her designs, and for her practice of creating her designs on a live model— draping, arranging and cutting until she achieved the desired look.