Business Birthdays and Anniversaries in September

BIRTHDAYS

• Sept. 2, 1936 -  Andrew S. Grove: Long time chairman of Intel

• Sept 3, 1860 -  Edward Albert Filene: Merchant and philanthropist who established the US credit union movement in 1921.

• Sept 3, 1856 -  Louis Sullivan: Architect responsible for the modern steel-framed skyscraper; designs characterized by rich ornamentation, plain outer surfaces and cubic forms.

• Sept 4, 1846 -  Daniel Burnham: Architect and city planner, an advocate of skyscrapers; His plan for Chicago was a key factor in the "forever open clear and free" policy which resulted in Chicago having the most beautiful lakefront of any major city in the US

• Sept 5, 1897 -  Arthur Charles Nielsen: Marketing research engineer, founder of AC Nielsen Company in 1923, known for radio and TV audience surveys

• Sept 7, 1904 - Jack C. Massey: He founded Hospitals Corporation of America (HCA) in 1968 at the age of 64. HCA went on to become one of the largest owners and operators of hospitals in the U.S.

• Sept 7, 1913 -  David Packard: Co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, the first Silicon Valley technology company

• Sept 9, 1890 -  Colonel Harland David Sanders: Founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken

• Sept 11, 1932 -  Muriel Siebert: First woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. Her firm, Muriel Siebert & Company, is one of the leading discount brokerages.

• Sept 13, 1857 -  Milton S. Hershey: Founder of the Hershey Chocolate Company and the company town, Hershey, PA

• Sept 17, 1900 -  J. Willard Marriot: Founder of Marriott International, one of the world’s largest hospitality, hotel chain and food services companies

• Sept 18, 1925 -  F. Kenneth Iverson: He pioneered the mini steel mill and transformed the steel industry, taking Nucor Steel from a nearly bankrupt company in the 1960s to one of the most profitable steel makers in the world.

• Sept 18, 1956 -  Debra S. J. Fields: Capitalizing on the trend in upscale home baked goods, she founded Mrs. Fields Cookies in 1977, expanding it to hundreds of stores nationwide

• Sept 24, 1900 -  Stephen D. Bechtel: Giant in the construction industry. His Bechtel Corporation is credited with the completion of the Hoover Dam, the San Francisco Bay Bridge and the Saudi Arabian oil pipeline

• Sept 30, 1861 -  William Wrigley Jr.: Founder of William Wrigley Jr. Company, major chewing gum manufacturer.

ANNIVERSARIES IN SEPTEMBER

• 1 - 1985: The Titanic is discovered nearly 75 years after its sinking in the north Atlantic. Dr. Robert Ballard leads a team of French and Americans that located the wreck on the ocean floor, 12,500 feet down.

• 2 - 1789: US Treasury Department is established by Congress

• 3 - 1833: The New York Sun, the first successful penny newspaper, is launched. Publisher Benjamin Day delivers increased circulation - enough to charge advertising rates that let him drop the paper’s price to a penny. He focuses on crime and violence and sells the papers via “paper boys” on the street. The Sun quickly becomes the most successful paper in the nation.

• 4 - 1882: The first electric lights are turned on in lower Manhattan. Thomas Edison’s Pearl Street power station provides light to customers in one square mile.

• 7 - 1921: The first Miss America is crowned. Margaret Gorman of Washington, DC wins the title in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

• 7 - 1979: ESPN, the first sports cable network, goes on the air.

• 8 - 1883: The Northern Pacific Railroad, the second line to link the two coasts, is completed after 19 years of construction.

• 8 - 1900: The Galveston hurricane, the worst national disaster in US history, kills 6,000 people and destroys 2,500 buildings. The city rebuilds and constructs a protective sea wall, but its vulnerability to storms means that Houston will overtake it as a commercial center.

• 11 - 2001: Terrorists crash hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, DC, killing close to 3,000 people. A fourth airliner crashes in a field in Pennsylvania. Along with the collapse of the twin towers, there is widespread damage in lower Manhattan. The New York Stock Exchange closes for two days. In the weeks that follow, larger businesses relocate employees to Jersey City and other nearby locations. Many smaller businesses that depended on workers in the trade center are unable to reopen.

• 15 - 1958: Bank of America issues the first national bank card, named BankAmericard and licensed to other banks. It will be renamed Visa in 1976.

• 15- 1978: Wordstar, the first word processing program for the PC, is released by Micropro. The first commercially successful word processing software, it is the best-selling software of the 1980s.

• 15 - 1982: USA Today first published. “The Nation’s Newspaper” features articles for a general audience.

• 18 - 1851: The New York Times is published. Nicknamed “The Gray Lady,” the newspaper is founded at the New York Daily Times by Henry G. Raymond and George Jones as a sober alternative to the more partisan New York newspapers of the day. Adolph Ochs would acquire the paper in 1896, and build it into a paper of international scope and reputation, and coin the phrase, “All the news that’s fit to print.”

• 20 - 1873: Financial panic forces the New York Stock Exchange to close for 10 days. Faulty judgment in booming railroad construction business leads to the failure of the major banking firm Cooke and Company. Many other firms collapse as well. Ultimately, 89 of the country’s railroads will go bankrupt and 18,000 other businesses will fail.

• 22 - 1903: Birthday of the ice cream cone. Wall Street pushcart vendor Italo Marconi starts serving his lemon ices in a waffle cone. Although the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904 is often credited with the invention of the ice cream cone, Marconi files for a patent on September 22, 1903. The patent is granted on December 15 that same year.

• 25 - 1690: First newspaper in America is published. Benjamin Harris publishes Publick Occurrences. The royal authority suppresses the newspaper after only one issue.

• 5 - 1914: New York Post Office Building at Eighth Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets opens. On the front of the building is the inscription supplied by William M. Kendall of the architectural firm that designed the building, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” The quote, a translation from Herodotus, is not the official motto of the US Postal Service.

• 29 - 1982: Tylenol deaths occur as individuals take capsules poisoned with cyanide. Johnson and Johnson recalls all Tylenol. The pharmaceutical industry makes sweeping changes in its packaging, to make bottles and boxes tamper-resistant and tamper-evident.

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