Today's Famous Birthdays

[IceWizard]

Thomas John Watson Sr.
(February 17, 1874 – June 19, 1956)

was an American businessman who served as the chairman and CEO of IBM.
He oversaw the company's growth into an international force from 1914 to 1956.
Watson developed IBM's management style and corporate culture from John Henry
Patterson's training at NCR. He turned the company into a highly effective selling
organization, based largely on punched card tabulating machines. A leading self-made
industrialist, he was one of the richest men of his time and was called the world's
greatest salesman when he died in 1956.









Haroldson Lafayette Hunt Jr.
(February 17, 1889 – November 29, 1974)

was an American oil tycoon. By trading poker winnings for oil rights according to legend,
but more likely through money he gained from successful speculation in oil leases, he
ultimately secured title to much of the East Texas Oil Field, one of the world's largest oil
deposits. He acquired rights to East Texas oil lands initially through a $30,000 land purchase
from oil speculator Dad Joiner, and founded Hunt Oil in 1936. From it and his other acquisitions,
which included diverse interests in publishing, cosmetics, pecan farming, and health food
producers, he accrued a fortune that was among the world's largest. In the 1950's, his Facts
Forum Foundation supported highly Conservative newspaper columns and radio programs,
some of which he authored and produced himself, and for which he became known. At his death,
he was reputed to have one of the highest net worths of any individual in the world, a fortune
estimated between two and three billion dollars.









Huey Percy Newton
(February 17, 1942 – August 22, 1989)

was an African-American revolutionary and political activist. Newton was most notable for being a
co-founder of the Black Panther Party where he operated the organization as the de-facto leader.
Newton crafted the Party's ten-point manifesto with Bobby Seale in 1966.