Famous Business Masons
Many men throughout history have been members of our fraternity.
In these pages we will present you with them and try to impress upon you the great men that have been Masons.
Famous Mason Categories
Articles of Confederation • Astronauts • Businessmen • Entertainers • Explorers and Frontiersmen • Governors • Military Leaders
Politician • Presidents • Senator • Signer Declaration of Independence • Sports • Supreme Court Justice • US Constitution
Members on this page are Businessmen
Leaders of Industry, Founders of Corporations and Inventors
During the Industrial Revolution, a captain of industry was a business leader whose means of amassing a personal fortune contributes positively to the country in some way. This may have been through increased productivity, expansion of markets, providing more jobs, or acts of philanthropy.
American businessman who founded the Dexter Shoe Company and established the first factory outlet store.
Founded as L.G. Balfour Company Friday, June 13, 1913 by Lloyd Garfield ?Bally? Balfour in Attleboro, Massachusetts. Specialized in the manufacturing of sorority and fraternity jewelry and class rings. Later, in the 1970s, the company also began producing sports jewelry.
American illustrator, author, youth leader, and social reformer who founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, which Beard later merged with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).
Canadian newspaper publisher, race horse owner and philanthropist. He was best known as the co-founder of FP Publications, Canada?s largest newspaper syndicate in the 1960s. He built his newspaper empire after inheriting the Calgary Albertan, and its $500,000 debt, from his father in 1936. He repaid debt by 1945 and proceeded to purchase papers across the country, including the Ottawa Journal and the Globe and Mail.…
American sculptor, photographer, author and engineer; he was best known for overseeing the completion of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial after the death in 1941 of the project?s leader, his father Gutzon Borglum.
American artist and sculptor famous for creating the monumental presidents? heads at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota; the famous carving on Stone Mountain near Atlanta; and other public works of art, including a head of Abraham Lincoln, exhibited in Theodore Roosevelt?s White House and held in the United States Capitol Crypt in Washington, D.C.
He was born in Chinquapin North Carolina. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a member of the Philanthropic Society, and attended the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
American automotive industry executive and founder of Chrysler Corporation, now a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Chrysler?s automotive career began in 1911 when he received a summons to meet with James J. Storrow, a banker who was a director of ALCO and also an executive at General Motors. Storrow asked him if he had given any thought to automobile manufacture.…
American lawyer, politician, and skilled orator who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives. He served three different terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives and was also Secretary of State from 1825 to 1829. He lost his campaigns for president in 1824, 1832
God made man, Sam Colt made them Equal? He was an American inventor and industrialist from Hartford, Connecticut. He founded Colt?s Patent Fire-Arms Manufacturing Company (today, Colt?s Manufacturing Company), and made the mass production of the revolver commercially viable.
French-born British natural philosopher, clergyman, engineer and freemason who was elected to the Royal Society in 1714 as experimental assistant to Isaac Newton.
Dewey earned a BA from Princeton University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He has been a member of Dewey, Devlin, Metz & King LLC, which helped to co-found, since 1994
Diemer served, on a piece-work contract basis, as the University Photographer and/or Director of the Photographic Laboratory from 1920 to 1932. His lab and three assistants were housed in the Old Soils Building. In addition to providing various photographic services to university faculty and departments, Diemer operated a commercial photographic business from the same facilities.
Herbert?s son, assumed control of the company. Under new leadership, the company continued to lead chemical production in the United States. William Dow?s major achievement, during his tenure as company president, was to extract bromine and other chemicals from seawater. In the year 2000, Dow Chemical was the fifth largest chemical firm in the world.
Also known as Colonel Drake, was an American oil driller, popularly credited with being the first to drill for oil in the United States.
American gambler, Pima County, Arizona Deputy Sheriff, and Deputy Town Marshal in Tombstone, Arizona, who took part in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which lawmen killed three outlaw Cowboys. He is often regarded as the central figure in the shootout in Tombstone, although his brother Virgil was Tombstone City Marshal and Deputy U.S. Marshal that day, and had far more experience as a sheriff, constable, marshal, and soldier in combat.…
Brother of President Eisenhower In 1905 he secured a job with a predecessor bank of the Commerce Trust Co. and eventually worked up to become the Executive Vice President and Director of the Commerce Trust Co. He was married twice and had no children. First wife was Alida Hamilton and second wife was Louise Grieb.
Was born in the village of Stein, near the city of Nuernberg, Germany. His father, George Leonard Faber, was a descendant of the famous Faber family, one of ancient lineage in Bavaria engaged in the profession of manufacturing lead pencils.
A recipient of the Order of Canada, was one of six children born in Gladstone, Manitoba to Christian Fahrni and Priscilla Hyndman.
American inventor, clockmaker, entrepreneur and engineer. He was most famous for operating the first steamboat service in the United States.
FRSE, FRS, FRCS was a Scottish biologist, pharmacologist and botanist. He wrote many articles on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy. His best-known discoveries are the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the antibiotic substance penicillin from the mould Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst Boris Chain
American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production.
American inventor best known for his invention of the Gatling gun, the first successful machine gun.
American businessman. He invented a best selling version of the safety razor. Several models were in existence before Gillette?s design. Gillette?s innovation was the thin, inexpensive, disposable blade of stamped steel
French physician and freemason who proposed on 10 October 1789 the use of a device to carry out death penalties in France, as a less painful method of execution. While he did not invent the guillotine, and in fact opposed the death penalty, his name became an eponym for it. The actual inventor of the prototype was Antoine Louis.
Mr. Hayes was president of the Chicago Motor Club in the 1920s when several children at a school crossing were killed by a speeding car. Horrified by the incident, Mr. Hayes pledged to help prevent such a tragedy from happening again. Two dozen boys were trained, and the first safety patrol was established with Mr. Hayes?…
Hoe was born in New York City. He was the son of Robert Hoe (1784?1833), an English-born American mechanic who, with his brothers-in-law, Peter and Matthew Smith, established a steam-powered manufactory of printing presses in New York City, which Richard joined at fifteen. He became a senior member of his father?s firm in 1833. On his father?s death, he became head of the R.…
After working for A & P, Hollis joined All American grocery stores in 1928. All American was bought by Publix founder George W. Jenkins in 1944 and merged with the chain, which today has 370 stores in the state.
The first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation?predecessor to the FBI?in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972 at age 77. Hoover is credited with building the FBI into a larger crime-fighting agency, and with instituting a number of modernizations to police technology, such as a centralized fingerprint file and forensic laboratories.
English physician and scientist who was the pioneer of smallpox vaccine, the world?s first vaccine. He is often called ?the father of immunology?, and his work is said to have ?saved more lives than the work of any other human?.
Scottish American sailor and the United States? first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolutionary War
American sculptor from New York City, New York. Keck studied at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League of New York with Philip Martiny, and was an assistant to Augustus Saint-Gaudens from 1893 to 1898. He also attended the American Academy in Rome. In 1921 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member and became a full Academician in 1928.…
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette in the U.S. often known simply as Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer who fought for the United States in the American Revolutionary War. A close friend of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson, Lafayette was a key figure in the French Revolution of 1789 and the July Revolution of 1830.
Quaker American mechanical engineer and naval architect who obtained over two hundred patents for advances in naval design and competed with John Philip Holland to build the first submarines for the United States Navy.
A business and community leader in Kansas City, Land served as Imperial Potentate of the Shriners and is revered today as the Founder of the Order of DeMolay.
Scotsman of Ulster-Scots parentage who was a self-made man, merchant, and yachtsman. He created the Lipton tea brand and was the most persistent challenger in the history of the America?s Cup.
Canadian publisher. He founded Maclean?s Magazine, the Financial Post and the Maclean Publishing Company, later known as Maclean-Hunter
American carpenter and sawmill operator, who reported the finding of gold at Coloma on the American River in California on January 24, 1848, the impetus for the California Gold Rush.
Canadian businessman and philanthropist born in Haldimand Township (now Alnwick/Haldimand, Ontario) in what was then known as Upper Canada. His parents were Daniel Massey and Lucina Bradley. The doorstep of the original Massey homestead can still be found behind the current farmhouse on the farm, still in the Massey family.
Louis B. Mayer, born Lazar Meir, on July 4, 1885, in Minsk, present-day Belarus, was an American film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios (MGM) in 1924
American medical practitioner and was one of the founders of the Mayo Clinic along with his brother, William James Mayo, Augustus Stinchfield, Christopher Graham, E. Star Judd, Henry Stanley Plummer, Melvin Millet and Donald Balfour.
A physician and surgeon in the United States and one of the seven founders of the Mayo Clinic. He and his brother, Charles Horace Mayo, both joined their father?s private medical practice in Rochester, Minnesota, USA, after graduating from medical school in the 1880s. In 1919, that practice became the not-for-profit Mayo Clinic.
F. L. Maytag, founded the Maytag Company, which eventually became the Maytag Corporation which was acquired by the Whirlpool Corporation in 2005
Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He started the McLaughlin Motor Car Co. in 1904, one of the first major automobile manufacturers in Canada, which evolved into General Motors of Canada. Born near Bowmanville in the hamlet of Enniskillen, Ontario, the son of Robert McLaughlin, he started working in 1887 for his father’s company that opened in 1867, McLaughlin Carriage Works, at one time the largest manufacturer of horse-drawn buggies and sleighs in the British Empire.…
Founder of State Farm Insurance, headquartered in Bloomington, Illinois. Mecherle, a farmer who became an insurance agent also, founded State Farm after becoming dissatisfied with the insurance rates charged to farmers, as those rates included the risks of city drives as well. Mr. Mecherle was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1985.
American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom and United States Secretary of the Treasury from March 4, 1921 to February 12, 1932, from the wealthy Mellon family of Pennsylvania. He and his brother Richard Beatty Mellon and (independently) Andrew Carnegie founded two institutes of higher education that would eventually merge to form Carnegie Mellon University.
German physician with an interest in astronomy, who theorised that there was a natural energetic transference that occurred between all animated and inanimate objects that he called animal magnetism, sometimes later referred to as mesmerism. The theory attracted a wide following between about 1780 and 1850, and continued to have some influence until the end of the century.…
American physicist known for his work on the measurement of the speed of light and especially for the Michelson?Morley experiment. In 1907 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics. He became the first American to receive the Nobel Prize in sciences.
English-born brewer and entrepreneur in colonial Quebec and Lower Canada. He was the founder of Molson Brewery.
Was a prominent American poet and Freemason. He also created the first ritual for what was to become the Order of the Eastern Star.He later served as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky
U.S. politician, journalist, and Spanish?American War veteran. Harry Stewart New was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on December 31, 1858
Was an Italian-born American businessman and philanthropist. He founded the Planters Peanut Company.
A pioneer of the American automotive industry, for whom both the Oldsmobile and REO brands were named. He claimed to have built his first steam car as early as 1894, and his first gasoline?powered car in 1896. The modern assembly line and its basic concept is credited to Olds, who used it to build the first mass-produced automobile, the Oldsmobile Curved Dash, beginning in 1901
The alleged first use of the term ?athlete?s foot? was in December 1928, in an article in the Literary Digest, prompted by reports from Dr Charles F. Pabst, of Greenpoint Hospital Brooklyn.23 Pabst claimed that the condition was already well-known in the United States, with an estimated ten million sufferers, three quarters of whom were unaware of the infection.
Minister and author (most notably of The Power of Positive Thinking) and a progenitor of “positive thinking”. His ideas were not accepted by mental health experts. Peale started a radio program, “The Art of Living,” in 1935, which lasted for 54 years. Under sponsorship of the National Council of Churches he moved into television when the new medium arrived.…
Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Peck was one of the seven Canadians to be awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions on one single day, 2 September 1918. The other six were Bellenden Hutcheson, Arthur George Knight, William Metcalf, Claude Joseph Patrick Nunney, Walter Leigh Rayfield and John Francis Young.
American businessman and entrepreneur who, in 1902, founded the J. C. Penney stores. Penney was a Freemason most of his adult life, being initiated into Wasatch Lodge No. 1 Free and Accepted Masons of Utah, on April 18, 1911. A member of both the Scottish and York Rites, Penney was coroneted a 33rd Degree on October 16, 1945, and received the Gold Distinguished Service Award by the General Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, in Kansas City, Missouri in 1958.…
American brigadier general and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. As a United States Army captain in 1806?1807, he led the Pike Expedition, sent out by President Thomas Jefferson, to explore and document the southern portion of the Louisiana territory and to find the headwaters of the Red River, during which he recorded the discovery of what later was called Pikes Peak.
American engineer and industrialist. He designed and manufactured the Pullman sleeping car and founded a company town, Pullman, for the workers who manufactured it. His Pullman Company also hired African-American men to staff the Pullman cars, who became known and widely respected as Pullman porters, providing elite service.
American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting the Colonial militia to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow?s poem, ?Paul Revere?s Ride?.
Born 1952 – Died 1916
The sons of German-born harness maker August Rüngeling, the Ringling brothers founded the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1884. Conceived by Albert and headed by John, August T. had little involvement in the circus.
They were all members of Baraboo Lodge No. 34 in Baraboo Wisconsin. The minutes of a special meeting on April 8, 1891 show the regular officers opening the lodge then the following taking the chairs: WM: Af T.…
Born 1861 – Died 1919
He was a juggler. He had a son Richard Ringling. He also had a granddaughter Mabel Ringling who married Richard Durant, an elephant trainer.
The sons of German-born harness maker August Rüngeling, the Ringling brothers founded the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1884. Conceived by Albert and headed by John, August T.…
Born 1854 – Died 1907
The sons of German-born harness maker August Rüngeling, the Ringling brothers founded the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1884. Conceived by Albert and headed by John, August T. had little involvement in the circus.
They were all members of Baraboo Lodge No. 34 in Baraboo Wisconsin. The minutes of a special meeting on April 8, 1891 show the regular officers opening the lodge then the following taking the chairs: WM: Af T.…
One of the Ringling brothers, who owned the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was in charge of production and greatly admired by the employees, who called him “Mr. Charlie” and sought his advice and help even for personal problems.
The sons of German-born harness maker August Rüngeling, the Ringling brothers founded the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1884.…
The sons of German-born harness maker August Rüngeling, the Ringling brothers founded the Ringling Brothers Circus in 1884. Conceived by Albert and headed by John, August T. had little involvement in the circus.
They were all members of Baraboo Lodge No. 34 in Baraboo Wisconsin. The minutes of a special meeting on April 8, 1891 show the regular officers opening the lodge then the following taking the chairs: WM: Af T.…
The most well-known of the seven Ringling brothers, five of whom merged the Barnum & Bailey Circus with their own Ringling Brothers Circus to create a virtual monopoly of traveling circuses and helped shape the circus into what it is today. He was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 1987.
Ringling’s brother Otto died unexpectedly in 1911, and Al died in 1916.…
American Circusman, businessman, and the third oldest of the Ringling brothers. He was the co-founder of the Ringling Brothers Circus, which eventually became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He was called the “Lieutenant General” of the Ringling family. Upon his death, the New York Times described him as “a man of great ideas and ambition, and an executive of force and character.” He was nicknamed “The King” in the circus business.…
In June of 1908 the first gasoline station in Canada and, allegedly in the world, was opened in Vancouver on the southwest corner of Smythe and Cambie streets. The creation of Gizeh Shriner Charles M. Rolston, who received his degree’s in Acacia Lodge in 1902, and Major James S. Mathews, a member of Western Gate Lodge.…
American businessman, best known for founding Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), and later acting as the company?s goodwill ambassador and symbol.
American businessman and pioneer of American radio and television. Throughout most of his career he led the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in various capacities from shortly after its founding in 1919 until his retirement in 1970.
Belgian musical instrument designer and musician who played the flute and clarinet, and is well known for having invented the saxophone. He also invented the saxotromba, saxhorn and saxtuba.
As a young man, Brother Schaefer yearned to fly. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1917, was assigned to the 46th Infantry, and was detailed from it to the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps (predecessor of today?s U.S. Air Force). He received his training at the University of Texas, Kelly Field, and Post Field at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.…
Ken Self was a prime mover in the development and growth of Freightliner from a small group of engineers and mechanics to a leading North American heavy-duty truck manufacturer,” said Rainer Schmueckle, president and CEO of Freightliner. “Our company is what it is today largely thanks to Ken’s leadership. Ken will be missed by his many friends at Freightliner, in the trucking industry and in the Pacific Northwest.…
American inventor and businessman who developed the first commercially successful lever-filling fountain pen and founded the W.A. Sheaffer Pen Company.
American tycoon, industrialist, politician and founder of Stanford University. Migrating to California from New York at the time of the Gold Rush, he became a successful merchant and wholesaler, and continued to build his business empire. He served one two-year term as governor of California after his election in 1861, and later eight years as senator from the state.…
The founder of osteopathy and osteopathic medicine. He was also a physician and surgeon, author, inventor and Kansas territorial and state legislator. He was one of the founders of Baker University, the oldest four-year college in the state of Kansas, and was the founder of the American School of Osteopathy (now A.T. Still University), the world?s first osteopathic medical school, in Kirksville, Missouri.
United States automobile entrepreneur, engineer, and innovator in the automobile industry. Stutz was born in 1876 to John and Wilma Stutz, on a farm a few miles outside of Indianapolis, Indiana. Stutz grew up caring for and repairing agricultural machinery on the family farm. Automobiles and engines fascinated him. Stutz built his first car in 1897, and then a second auto using a gasoline engine of his own design and manufacture.…
United States automobile entrepreneur, engineer, and innovator in the automobile industry. Stutz was born in 1876 to John and Wilma Stutz, on a farm a few miles outside of Indianapolis, Indiana. Stutz grew up caring for and repairing agricultural machinery on the family farm. Automobiles and engines fascinated him. Stutz built his first car in 1897, and then a second auto using a gasoline engine of his own design and manufacture.…
Canadian researcher and developer, and is credited with the invention of the first five and six-chime air horns for use on locomotives. Swanson had worked as the chief engineer of a company called Victoria Lumber Manufacturing in the 1920s, when he developed a hobby for making steam whistles for locomotives. Eventually, Swanson designed and built a large steam whistle for the mill where he worked.…
American writer, broadcaster, and traveler, best known as the man who made Lawrence of Arabia famous.
American businessperson and philanthropist. Thomas was the founder and chief executive officer of Wendy?s, a fast-food restaurant chain specializing in hamburgers. He is also known for appearing in more than 800 commercial advertisements for the chain from 1989 to 2002, more than any other company founder in television history
Danish sculptor of international fame, who spent most of his life (1789?1838) in Italy. Thorvaldsen was born in Copenhagen into a Danish/Icelandic family of humble means, and was accepted to the Royal Danish Academy of Art when he was eleven years old. Working part-time with his father, who was a wood carver, Thorvaldsen won many honors and medals at the academy.…
15th President of George Washington University, serving from 1988 to 2007. On August 1, 2007, he retired from the presidency and became President Emeritus and University Professor of Public Service.
Detroit lawyer and businessman best known as the producer of the Lone Ranger radio and television programs along with The Green Hornet. He is entombed in Detroit’s Woodlawn Cemetery. During the 1920s, George W. Trendle was a Detroit, Michigan, lawyer who had established a reputation as a tough negotiator specializing in movie contracts and leases. Trendle became involved in the Detroit area entertainment business in 1928 when local motion picture theater owner John H.…
American automobile designer and entrepreneur. He is most remembered for his 1948 Tucker Sedan (known as the “Tucker ’48” and initially nicknamed the “Tucker Torpedo”), an automobile which introduced many features that have since become widely used in modern cars. Production of the Tucker ’48 was shut down amidst scandal and controversial accusations of stock fraud on March 3, 1949.…
Known as the Alton Giant and the Giant of Illinois, is the tallest person in recorded history for whom there is irrefutable evidence. The Alton and Illinois monikers reflect the fact that he was born and grew up in Alton, Illinois. Wadlow reached 8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m) in height and weighed 439 lb (199 kg) at his death at age 22.…
Born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian-born American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Warner?s career spanned some forty-five years, its duration surpassing that of any other of the seminal Hollywood studio moguls
Oldest of the Wattis Brothers and founders of the Utah Construction Company. Wattis was born in Uintah, Utah Territory, the second of seven children born to Edmund Orson Wattis and Mary Jane Corey. Edmund was 21 when he left his home in Uinta to start a career in heavy construction, working on bed grading for the Canadian Pacific and Colorado Midlands.…
American composer, songwriter, flutist, conductor and playwright, best known for writing the book, music and lyrics for the hit Broadway musical The Music Man. He wrote three other Broadway musicals, composed symphonies and popular songs, and his film scores were twice nominated for Academy Awards.
American engineer and businessman who served as United States Secretary of Defense from 1953 to 1957 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Known as “Engine Charlie”, he previously worked as CEO for General Motors. In the wake of the Korean War, he cut the defense budget significantly. Wilson’s nomination sparked a controversy that erupted during his confirmation hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee, based on his large stockholdings in General Motors.…
American film director, producer and screenwriter. Notable works included Ben-Hur (1959), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Mrs. Miniver (1942), all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, as well as Best Picture in their respective years, making him the only director of three Best Picture winners. Wyler received his first Oscar nomination for directing Dodsworth in 1936, starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton and Mary Astor, ?sparking a 20-year run of almost unbroken greatness.
American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors (the length of his career was rivaled only by that of Adolph Zukor). He earned three Academy Awards during his tenure.
American manufacturer of women’s clothing, but was best known for his home movie documenting the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. At the time of the assassination, Zapruder was an admirer of President Kennedy and considered himself a Democrat. Zapruder had originally planned to film the motorcade carrying President Kennedy through downtown Dallas on November 22 but decided not to film the event as it had been raining that morning.…