Abram Nicholas Pritzker (January 6, 1896-1986) - Abram was a successful businessman who started the Hyatt chain of hotels and whose other properties included Royal Caribbean and TransUnion. His many philanthropic acts included the establishment of the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago, and the creation of the Pritzker Prize, the top prize in architecture.

Harry M. Markowitz (August 24, 1927-present) - Dr. Markowitz has applied computer and mathematical techniques to various practical decision making areas. In finance: in an article in 1952 and a book in 1959 he presented what is now referred to as MPT, “modern portfolio theory.” This has become a standard topic in college courses and texts on investments, and is widely used by institutional investors for asset allocation, risk control and attribution analysis. In other areas: Dr. Markowitz developed “sparse matrix” techniques for solving very large mathematical optimization problems. These techniques are now standard in production software for optimization programs. Dr. Markowitz also designed and supervised the development of the SIMSCRIPT programming language. SIMSCRIPT has been widely used for programming computer simulations of systems like factories, transportation systems and communication networks. In 1989 Dr. Markowitz received The John von Neumann Award from the Operations Research Society of America [now called Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)] for his work in portfolio theory, sparse matrix techniques and SIMSCRIPT. In 1990 he shared The Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on portfolio theory.

Herman Kogan (November 6, 1914 - 1989) - Kogan was a popular author and journalist who spent time at The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Daily News during his 50 year career, serving as a reporter, features writer, editorial writer, and editor. Additionally, Kogan authored 16 books, with Chicago as his primary subject. His most popular titles included ''Give the Lady What She Wants,'' about Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago department store; ''The Great EB: The Story of the Encyclopaedia Britannica,'' and, with Lloyd Wendt, ''Big Bill of Chicago." Every year, the Chicago Bar Association honors journalists and legal affairs reporting with the Herman Kogan Media Awards. His son Rick Kogan is a respected Chicago journalist in his own right.

World-renowned beauty authority, author and speaker, Marilyn Miglin is among the nation's top-500 women business owners. Her signature fragrance, Pheromone, is one of the top-10 fragrances sold in luxury department stores nationwide and each month, more than 65-million television viewers invite her into their homes to purchase her products. - Schurzhs.org

Sybil Bauer (September 18, 1903-1927) - In her brief life, Bauer was one of the most dominant swimmers ever. She set the record in the backstroke for women at every distance. She even beat the men's record once, though it was never recognized. She won the gold medal in the backstroke at the 1924 Olympics. She was engaged to Ed Sullivan (of the Ed Sullivan Show fame) at the time of her death.

Terry McCann (March 23, 1934-2006) - 1960 Olympic Gold Medal winner in Wrestling. Before that, McCann was a 3-time city champion, two-time NCAA champion. As coach of the Mayor Daley Youth Foundation the club won six national freestyle and five Greco-Roman championships in seven years. McCann also spent 26 years as Executive Director of Toastmasters International.

Vincent duVigneaud (May 18, 1901-1978) - As a biochemist, du Vigneaud received the 1955 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his breakthrough achievement of synthesizing oxytocin - a hormone released by the posterior pituitary gland used to induce labor and lactation in pregnant women, and for his work with sulfur. He received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1948.

William S. Paley (September 28, 1901-1990) - Paley grew his family's ownership of several radio stations into the media conglomerate CBS. As chief executive he established many innovative business practices that continue to influence television and media companies today.