William Procter

popular name: Jay Gould

date_of_death: December 2, 1892

age: 56

cause_of_death: Tuberculosis

claim_to_fame: Business and Finance

best_know_for: Jay Gould was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who is generally identified as one of the original Robber Barons of the Gilded Age. His sharp and often unscrupulous business practices made him one of the wealthiest men of the late nineteenth century. Gould made his fortune by controlling the price of the stocks he bought as well as the stock market itself. He traded in the stocks of his own companies, using banks he was associated with to finance his speculations, all the while bribing legislators and judges. From 1867 to 1872 he was a power and a terror on Wall Street. Gould was an unpopular figure during his life so much so that his funeral was sparsely attended. The Jay Gould mausoleum can be found at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.

popular name: Charles Louis Fleischmann

date_of_death: December 10, 1897

age: 62

cause_of_death: Paralysis

claim_to_fame: Business and Finance

best_know_for: Charles Louis Fleischmann was a Hungarian-American who, along with his brother Maximilian and another partner, created America’s first commercially produced yeast, which revolutionized baking in a way that made today’s mass production and consumption of bread possible. It all began in 1870 when, at the instigation of his partner, Charles began to make yeast by a Hungarian method with which he had been long familiar. The patent for making compressed yeast from the froth or scum formed during the manufacture of malt or spirituous liquors was taken out, however, by his brother Henry, who assigned it to Fleischmann & Gaff in return for an annuity. This yeast was slow in finding a market, so that the partners nearly failed. As a last resort they put on a huge exhibit at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, at which spectators could see the yeast made, the dough set, and the bread baked, and could then adjourn to a restaurant and eat the bread. The exhibit was popular; the restaurant yielded a cash profit; and the advertising value of the enterprise was enormous. Thereafter there was no trouble in selling Fleischmann’s yeast. After Gaff’s death in 1879, Fleischmann bought his share in the business for $500, 000. His wealth grew rapidly. He became a director in some twenty-five Cincinnati enterprises and was president of a cooperage company, a large vinegar works in Illinois, a newspaper company, and the Market National Bank. He took a hand in civic affairs, was fire commissioner in 1890, was elected as a Republican to the state Senate in 1879 and again in 1895, and was a friend and adviser of William McKinley. Today Fleischmann's Yeast is the #1 seller of yeast and the #2 manufacture of vinegar in the world. Upon his death, he was laid to rest at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio.

popular name: James Gamble

date_of_death: April 29, 1891

age: 88

cause_of_death: Natural causes

claim_to_fame: Business and Finance

best_know_for: In 1819, the George Gamble family set sail for American to seek their fortune in an area of Illinois that was being promoted. Because of illness of a son, they stopped and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. A son, James Gamble, at 18 apprenticed in the soap business and eventually formed his own company. After marrying Ann Norris, he merged his company with that of William Proctor who married Ann’s sister. And in 1837 that was the start of the Proctor and Gamble Company. In 1858–1859, sales reached $1 million. By that point, about 80 employees worked for Procter & Gamble. During the American Civil War, the company won contracts to supply the Union Army with soap and candles. In addition to the increased profits experienced during the war, the military contracts introduced soldiers from all over the country to Procter & Gamble's products. In the 1880s, Procter & Gamble began to market a new product, an inexpensive soap that floated in water. The company called the soap Ivory. Beginning in the 1880s, P&G advertised its wares in full-page advertisements in many general-interest magazines; by 1921, it had become a major international corporation with a diversified line of soaps, toiletries, and food products; in that year, its annual advertising budget reached $1 million. In the 1920s, P&G advertised its products on the new medium of radio, and from 1932 forward was one of the biggest sponsors of daytime serials, which soon acquired the nickname of soap operas. In the television era, P&G sponsored and produced some twenty soap operas across six decades before the last of its shows ended in 2010. Today Procter and Gamble employees over 101,000 employees with total sales exceeding $76 billion. Upon his death in 1891, he was laid to rest at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, OH.