Victor Aubrey Lownes III (April 17, 1928 – January 11, 2017) was an executive for HMH Publishing Company Inc., later known as
Playboy Enterprises
PLBY Group, Inc. is an American global media and lifestyle company founded by Hugh Hefner as Playboy Enterprises, Inc. to oversee the ''Playboy'' magazine and related assets. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California.
The company is focus ...
, from 1955 through the early 1980s. Soon after he met
Hugh Hefner
Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obsc ...
in 1954, Hefner founded ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
K ...
'' magazine, and Lownes eventually joined his publishing company, serving as vice president. Lownes was a close confidant of Hefner and gained a reputation for dating
Playboy Playmates.
Lownes headed Playboy Europe and the UK
Playboy Club
The Playboy Club was initially a chain of nightclubs and resorts owned and operated by Playboy Enterprises. The first Playboy Club opened in Chicago in 1960. Each club generally featured a Living Room, a Playmate Bar, a Dining Room, and a Club R ...
s from the mid-1960s until his dismissal in the early 1980s. Lownes oversaw Playboy Enterprises's move into casino gambling in the UK in the 1960s, which became Playboy's most successful business other than its publishing until the advent of cable television. He oversaw the most successful part of Hefner's attempt to diversify out of publishing and into motion pictures, hotels and
casino gambling
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
. During his time as head of Playboy Europe, he was Britain's highest paid executive, drawing a large salary and eventually becoming Playboy Enterprises's second biggest shareholder. Lownes is credited with creating
Playboy Club
The Playboy Club was initially a chain of nightclubs and resorts owned and operated by Playboy Enterprises. The first Playboy Club opened in Chicago in 1960. Each club generally featured a Living Room, a Playmate Bar, a Dining Room, and a Club R ...
s in the United States.
Biography
Early life
Victor Aubrey Lownes III was born on April 17, 1928, in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
,
the elder son of Victor Aubrey Lownes Jr. and Winifred (Winnie Mark) Lownes, a wealthy couple with ties to the
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
time lock
A time lock (also timelock) is a part of a locking mechanism commonly found in bank vaults and other high-security containers. The time lock is a timer designed to prevent the opening of the safe or vault until it reaches the preset time, eve ...
fortune in Buffalo.
At the age of 12, his father gave him a cigar to smoke as
aversion therapy
Aversion therapy is a form of psychological treatment in which the patient is exposed to a stimulus while simultaneously being subjected to some form of discomfort. This conditioning is intended to cause the patient to associate the stimulus wit ...
. At the same age, he also accidentally shot and killed his best friend, which resulted in his forced enrollment at the
New Mexico Military Institute
New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI) is a public military junior college and high school in Roswell, New Mexico. Founded in 1891, NMMI operates under the auspices of the State of New Mexico, under a dedicated Board of Regents that reports to the G ...
in
Roswell. While there, he met
Nicky Hilton
Nicholai Olivia Rothschild ( Hilton, October 5, 1983) is an American socialite, fashion designer and model. She is a member of the Hilton family by birth, and a member of the Rothschild family through her marriage to James Rothschild, a grands ...
,
Conrad Hilton
Conrad Nicholson Hilton Sr. (December 25, 1887 – January 3, 1979) was an American businessman who founded the Hilton Hotels chain. From 1912 to 1916 Hilton was a Republican representative in the first New Mexico Legislature, but became disil ...
's son, who became a friend.
Lownes enrolled at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
in 1944 under the experimental "Chicago Plan" undergraduate program developed by then-chancellor
Robert Maynard Hutchins
Robert Maynard Hutchins (January 17, 1899 – May 14, 1977) was an American educational philosopher. He was president (1929–1945) and chancellor (1945–1951) of the University of Chicago, and earlier dean of Yale Law School (1927–1929). His& ...
. He received the program's interdisciplinary
A.B.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in 1947 and claimed to have subsequently received an
M.B.A.
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as account ...
from the
Booth School of Business
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Chicago Booth or Booth) is the graduate business school of the University of Chicago. Founded in 1898, Chicago Booth is the second-oldest business school in the U.S. and is associated with 10 N ...
in a now-deleted
LinkedIn
LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...
profile. In 1946, at the age of 18, Lownes wed fellow University of Chicago student Judith Downs. They had two children, Victor "Val" Aubrey Lownes IV and Meredith Lownes.
After several jobs, he found employment at Yale. “I was promoted to manager within a few months,” he would later write, “due solely to hard work, conscientiousness and the fact that my grandfather owned the company.” While he was successful, with a loving wife, two children, a large home, and a good job, he was unsatisfied. Following his father's death, after seven years of marriage he had what in an older man would be called a
mid-life crisis
A midlife crisis is a transition of identity and self-confidence that can occur in middle-aged individuals, typically 40 to 60 years old. The phenomenon is described as a psychological crisis brought about by events that highlight a person's grow ...
. He rebelled against the apparent respectability of the middle class
American dream, trapped by marriage and decided to abandon his family.
''Playboy''
Following the dissolution of his marriage, Lownes returned to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, where he lived for several months entertaining young women. At a party in 1954, Lownes met
Hugh Hefner
Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obsc ...
, a man whose almost identical interests had led him to recently create ''Playboy'' magazine. Lownes was asked to write a couple of articles, and in November 1955, he was offered a full-time job with the company as Promotions Director. He set about drumming up advertising for the pariah publication, most conservative companies wanting nothing to do with the magazine. He was quite successful in changing minds.
Advertising for a club called Gaslight in Chicago, Lownes saw an opportunity to diversify the Playboy brand and suggested to Hefner that Playboy should open a club of its own. Hefner immediately saw the commercial and promotional benefits. Plans for a Playboy Club were begun in 1959. Lownes' then girlfriend suggested to Hefner the idea of dressing the hostesses in the image of the
tuxedo
Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element fo ...
ed
Playboy Bunny
A Playboy Bunny is a waitress who works at a Playboy Club and selected through standardized training. Their costumes were made up of lingerie, inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy rabbit mascot. This costume consisted of a strapless corset te ...
character. Hefner took some persuading as he had always viewed the rabbit as a male character but once he saw a prototype of the outfit he changed his mind.
Under Lownes' management, the first
Playboy Club
The Playboy Club was initially a chain of nightclubs and resorts owned and operated by Playboy Enterprises. The first Playboy Club opened in Chicago in 1960. Each club generally featured a Living Room, a Playmate Bar, a Dining Room, and a Club R ...
opened in downtown Chicago on 116 E Walton Street. It was essentially a bar with entertainment featuring
Playboy Bunnies
A Playboy Bunny is a waitress who works at a Playboy Club and selected through standardized training. Their costumes were made up of lingerie, inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy rabbit mascot. This costume consisted of a strapless corset ted ...
serving drinks and performances by some big names in entertainment. The doors opened for the first time on the leap year night of February 29, 1960 and it was an immediate success. More clubs followed in other cities in the United States.
Move to the UK
In 1963, Lownes asked Hefner to send him to
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
to open the first British Playboy Club. He placed an advertisement in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
personal columns that read: "American millionaire seeks a flat in the most fashionable part of London. Rents up to £100 a week." He found a house at 3 Montpellier Square, opposite
Harrods
Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other ...
which he rented for 75
guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
s a week. He spent months in London working out how and where to open a club.
Gambling had recently been legalized in the UK and Lownes realized there was an opportunity to add the attraction of a casino to the nightclub. A Playboy Club was opened in the heart of the capital, at 45 Park Lane overlooking
Hyde Park
Hyde Park may refer to:
Places
England
* Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London
* Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds
* Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield
* Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester
Austra ...
, on July 1, 1966, and was an immediate success. It was nicknamed the "Hutch on the Park."
"UK One", as Lownes became known, easily fitted in with "
Swinging London
The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London as its centre. It saw a flourishing in art, mus ...
". Regular parties were thrown at his house; attendees included such London Playboy Club habitués as
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
,
George Best
George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest pla ...
,
Warren Beatty
Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker, whose career spans over six decades. He was nominated for 15 Academy Awards, including four for Best Actor, four for Best Picture, two for Best Director, ...
,
Michael Caine
Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...
,
Judy Garland
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...
,
Sean Connery
Sir Sean Connery (born Thomas Connery; 25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. Origina ...
,
Terry Southern
Terry Southern (May 1, 1924 – October 29, 1995) was an American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style. Part of the Paris postwar literary movement in the 1950s and a companion to ...
,
Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a (né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two ...
and
Sharon Tate
Sharon Marie Tate Polanski (January 24, 1943 – August 9, 1969) was an American actress and model. During the 1960s, she played small television roles before appearing in films and was regularly featured in fashion magazines as a model and cover ...
. In 1967, Lownes moved to 1
Connaught Square
Connaught Square in London, England, was the first square of city houses to be built in Bayswater. It is named after a royal, the Earl of Connaught who was from 1805 until death in 1834 the second and last Duke of Gloucester ''and'' Edinburgh, ...
, which had previously been the London residence of
Mary Augusta Ward
Mary Augusta Ward (''née'' Arnold; 11 June 1851 – 24 March 1920) was a British literature, British novelist who wrote under her married name as Mrs Humphry Ward.
She worked to improve education for the poor and she became the founding Pres ...
, a novelist of the late 19th and early 20th century.
[ (originally published in )] A massive
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
painting he acquired during this time was judged so hideous that it was exiled to hanging in the hall, while a grandfather clock inside the property was painted by
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...
.
1970s
In the 1970s, ''Playboy'' magazine encountered competition from a new generation of rival periodicals (most notably ''
Penthouse
Penthouse most often refers to:
*Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building
*Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine
*Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...
'' and ''
Hustler
Hustler or hustlers may also refer to:
Professions
* Hustler, an American slang word, e.g., for a:
** Con man, a practitioner of confidence tricks
** Drug dealer, seller of illegal drugs
** Male prostitute
** Pimp
** Business man, more gener ...
''), precipitating a gradual decline in overall profitability. However, gaming profits from the London casino kept rising, making future expansion into gaming very attractive. The
Clermont Club
The Clermont Set was an exclusive group of rich British gamblers who met at the Clermont Club, originally at 44 Berkeley Square, in London's fashionable Mayfair district. It closed in March 2018 and re-opened in 2022. Clermont Club is now tempora ...
in
Berkeley Square
Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Kent ...
, known for its celebrity clientele, was purchased in the spring of 1972, while the Manchester and Portsmouth Casino Clubs were opened in 1973.
A large rural property a few miles from London was added to the organization in 1972:
Stocks House
Stocks Manor House is a large Georgian mansion, built in 1773. It is the largest property in the village of Aldbury, Hertfordshire. Stocks House and its manorial farm is an estate surrounded by of National Trust Ashridge Forest and the Ch ...
, a 42-room
Georgian mansion located outside
Aldbury, Hertfordshire, which, coincidentally, had also previously been the country home of Mary Augusta Ward.
At the time of Lownes' purchase it had been in use as a girls' boarding school since 1944. As well as being Victor Lownes residence the mansion was used as a training camp for
Playboy bunnies
A Playboy Bunny is a waitress who works at a Playboy Club and selected through standardized training. Their costumes were made up of lingerie, inspired by the tuxedo-wearing Playboy rabbit mascot. This costume consisted of a strapless corset ted ...
and was well known for hosting extravagant parties, including the 1978 25-hour party (to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of ''Playboy'' magazine), when guests and
Bunny Girls who were given green dots to wear, and were allowed upstairs to Stocks' many bedrooms.
Despite rowdy celebrations at Stocks, Lownes became popular with villagers for his support for local charities.
With the gaming licence approval for the Victoria Sporting Club in February 1981, Playboy Enterprises became the largest, and, table for table, one of the most profitable gaming operators in the UK. They had three London casinos, two provincial casinos, interests in two others, 72 off track betting parlors, and six bingo parlors.
By 1975, Hefner's penchant for becoming involved in various ventures (including the film-oriented Playboy Productions,
Playboy Records
Playboy Records was an American record label, based in Los Angeles, California, and a unit of Playboy Enterprises. Artists recording for the label included Al Wilson (singer), Al Wilson, Barbi Benton, Blue Ash (band), Blue Ash, Bobby Taylor & th ...
and the Playboy Press) before losing interest had exacerbated the lack of profitability in many areas of Playboy Enterprises. Lownes was briefly recalled to Chicago by Hefner as a hatchet man to "trim the fat" off the corporation. He was given virtually unlimited powers; on the job, Lownes was so dedicated to cutting expenses that he was known within the company as "Attila" or "Jaws".
Film production
Under the auspices of the fledgling Playboy Productions unit, Lownes was the
executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...
for ''
And Now for Something Completely Different
''And Now for Something Completely Different'' is a 1971 British sketch comedy film based on the television comedy series ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' featuring sketches from the show's first two series. The title was taken from a catchphrase ...
'' (1971), the first
Monty Python
Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...
film. He was a fan and proposed the idea of a film specifically designed to introduce the British comedy troupe to a U.S. audience. He was very egotistical. According to
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe.
Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including ''Time Bandits'' (1981), ''B ...
, Lownes insisted on getting an animated
executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...
credit equal in size to those of the group members. Gilliam refused and so Lownes had the credit made elsewhere at his own cost. Gilliam then created a different style of credit for the Pythons so Lownes' credit is the only one that appears in this way. In their later film, ''Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl'' (1982), Gilliam burlesqued the incident by giving one Python a credit name three times the size of anyone else's: "MICHAEL PALIN – as the man with the biggest credit".
Lownes was out partying with Roman Polanski when Sharon Tate was murdered by the
Manson family in August 1969. Later, Lownes persuaded Hefner to provide $1,500,000 to finance Polanski's film ''
Macbeth
''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...
'' (1971) through Playboy Productions when no other movie studio would touch it. Polanski proceeded to go $600,000 over budget and then mock Playboy's generosity. Lownes terminated his friendship with Polanski over his behavior. Angrily, he returned a cherished gift to Polanski, the life-sized gold penis Polanski had modeled for during happier days. Lownes wrote that "I'm sure you'll have no difficulty finding some friend you can shove it up".
Downfall
By 1981, Lownes was back in London, serving as senior vice president at Playboy Enterprises with a portfolio encompassing the profitable casinos. He was leading the effort to open up
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497. for gambling from his London base. Work was started on the future Atlantic City casino building. However, Lownes was accused of irregularities by the Gaming Board for Great Britain as the project progressed. Hefner panicked, firing Lownes before his scheduled meeting with the committee in an obvious attempt to save the New Jersey deal. Without him, the company's British
gaming licence
A gaming control board (GCB), also called by various names including gambling control board, casino control board, gambling board, and gaming commission, is a government agency charged with regulating casino and other types of gaming in a define ...
was revoked and Playboy lost their most valuable assets. Additionally, Playboy's temporary gaming license in Atlantic City was not renewed.
Playboy, which made $31 million in the year ending June 30, 1981, lost more than $51 million in the year ending June 30, 1982. With the loss of its gaming assets, Playboy barely survived.
In 1990, Hefner and Lownes reconciled after a nine-year estrangement.
After ''Playboy''
Lownes himself suffered little more than wounded pride. He had accumulated a fortune during his years as Britain's best paid executive and he still had his wife,
Marilyn Cole
Marilyn Cole (born 7 May 1949) is ''Playboy'' magazine's January 1972 Playmate of the Month. She was the magazine's first full-frontal nude centerfold. She also became 1973's Playmate of the Year – the only Briton to hold that title. Her orig ...
, whose affections he and Hefner had both attempted to gain. Marilyn was the first full frontal ''Playboy'' Playmate of the Month, in January 1972, and the
Playmate of the Year
This is a list of models who were chosen as a Playboy Playmate of the Year for the American edition of ''Playboy'' magazine.
List of Playmates of the Year
*1953: Marilyn Monroe
*1954:
*1955:
*1956:
*1957:
*1958:
*1959:
*1960: Ellen Stratton ...
1973. She continued to pose for ''Playboy'' until 1984, and became a journalist who has written for ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'', ''
Esquire
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title.
In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'' and ''
GQ''.
During this period, Lownes invested in several successful
West End theatre
West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1 ...
productions, including ''
Other People's Money
''Other People's Money'' is a 1991 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Norman Jewison, starring Danny DeVito, Gregory Peck and Penelope Ann Miller. It was adapted by screenwriter Alvin Sargent from the 1989 play of the same name b ...
'' and ''
Stomp
Stomp may refer to:
*Stomp (strike), a downwards kick using the heel
Music and dance
* ''Stomp'' (album), by Big D and the Kids Table, 2013
*Stomp (jazz), a type of rhythmic jazz tune popular in the 1920s
*Stomp (theatrical show), a percussive ph ...
''.
Lownes also reconciled with Polanski following his dismissal. During the Roman Polanski libel case against ''
Vanity Fair'' in July 2005, Lownes was ill and could not attend the trial. His wife came in his place. Lownes was rarely seen in public in his latter years.
Death
Lownes died on January 11, 2017, at the age of 88 from a heart attack in London.
References
Sources
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lownes, Victor
1928 births
2017 deaths
Businesspeople from Buffalo, New York
Playboy people
Film producers from New York (state)
University of Chicago Booth School of Business alumni
20th-century American businesspeople