John D. Rockefeller Sr.

popular name: Gilbert F. Heublein

date_of_death: March 21, 1937

age: 87

cause_of_death: Arteriosclerosis

claim_to_fame: Business and Finance

best_know_for: German-born Gilbert F. Heublein was a prominent hotelier, restaurateur, food and liquor distributor in Hartford, Connecticut. While most people remember Gilbert for securing the license and distribution rights of A-1 Steak Sauce to the United States, his real claim to fame should be his discovery and marketing of pre-made cocktails. As the legend goes, Gilbert and his brother Louis had prepared a quantity of premixed cocktails for a large annual picnic. It rained and the event was canceled. A few days later a employee of the Heubleins was told to dispose of the unused beverages. Deciding to taste them first, he found that the drinks had suffered no deterioration and announced the discovery to his bosses. The Heubleins took note and began selling the premixed libations in their saloon and restaurant. The cocktails proved very popular with customers and increasingly became the focus of the family’s attention. With Gilbert now running the business, the new firm concentrated on the premixed cocktails such as Martinis and Manhattans, advertising them widely as Club Cocktails. Upon the enactment of Prohibition in 1920, Heublein's "secondary sideline" of A.1. Sauce served as a fortunate savior, when the production, transportation and sale of all other Heublein products became illegal in the US for the next thirteen years. Upon Gilbert’s death, the company was taken over by John G. Martin, the son of Alice Heublein and Percy Martin, Gilbert Heublein’s grandson. Through Martin’s business savvy, G.F. Heublein & Bro. acquired the rights to sell Smirnoff vodka, Don Q rum, and Jose Cuervo tequila. In 1969, Heublein, Inc. began to package pre-mixed cocktails in 8-ounce cans, such as the ‘Brass Monkey’. The company also made acquisitions outside the liquor industry with the purchase of Grey Poupon mustard in 1936 and Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1971. In 1982, Heublein, Inc was sold to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for 1.4 billion dollars.

popular name: Barbara Hutton

date_of_death: May 11, 1979

age: 66

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Business and Finance

best_know_for: Barbara Woolworth Hutton was born in New York City on 14 November 1912, the daughter of Edna and Franklyn Hutton and the granddaughter of Frank Winfield Woolworth, founder of the phenomenally successful chain of retail "five and dime" stores named Woolworths. Her mother died when she was only four years old and, until his death in 1919, Barbara Hutton was cared for by her grandfather. Subsequently her life became even more unsettled as she was moved from one relative to another, her father always ready with material but not the emotional support and love for which she longed. This disorganised start to her life obviously had a strong impact on her as an adult. The only stable aspect of her lifeappears to have been the vast fortune she inherited from her grandparents and her mother: before she was in her teens, she had well over $28 million in trust, and this was to be nearly doubled by the time she came of age. She partied, travelled, and lived a life of excessive excitement and self-indulgence, but even after seven marriages, she was still the ‘poor little rich girl’ of Noël Coward’s 1920s song, never finding the contentment she craved. After a lifetime of society balls and parties around the world and seven failed marriages, Barbara, nearly blind at 66, died bedridden and alone of a heart attack in 1979 in the penthouse of The Beverly Wilshire Hotel. She had $3,500 in the bank.

popular name: Harold Stirling Vanderbilt

date_of_death: July 4, 1970

age: 85

cause_of_death:

claim_to_fame: Business and Finance

best_know_for: Harold Stirling Vanderbilt was an American railroad executive, a champion yachtsman, an innovator and champion player of contract bridge, and a member of the Vanderbilt family. Vanderbilt was a director of the New York Central Railroad from 1913 and was a driving force behind the rail network until he was defeated for the control of the company in 1954. He was also known as a card game enthusiast. In 1925, while on board SS Finland, he originated changes to the scoring system through which the game of contract bridge supplanted auction bridge in popularity. He also served as commodore of the New York Yacht Club from 1922 to 1924, and won six "King's Cups" and five Astor Cups at regattas between 1922 and 1938. Mr. Vanderbilt, who stood 6 feet tall, was a commanding figure whether at the helm of a Cup defender or on the tennis court, where he was also an excellent performer. Unlike many of the local wealthy families, he showed little interest in the social events of Newport.