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Jeff Bezos b. 1964 Jeff Bezos didn't invent online shopping, but his little online-bookstore experiment has changed the way consumers purchase almost anything–books, music, clothing, jewelry and, most recently, wine. The founder and CEO of Amazon.com survived the dot-com bust of the 1990s with a handful of contemporaries such as eBay, Yahoo and Google. And…

Martha Stewart b. 1941 Author, one-time caterer, publisher and TV personality Martha Stewart did one thing better than anything else; the lifestyle maven understood the power of her brand and consolidated it in 1997 as Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Oh, and she staged a pretty good comeback in 2005 after serving five months in jail.…

Aaron Montgomery Ward 1843-1913 Open your mailbox and thank Aaron Montgomery Ward for what's inside. The retail magnate is most noted for his innovation in mail-order catalogs for department stores. Working as a door-to-door salesman for a dry-goods wholesaler, he noted the disparity between the cash prices farmers received and high retail store prices. In…

George Eastman 1854-1932 George Eastman made photography an amateur sport. When competition in the camera industry heated up, he shifted his attention and created the film roll, which replaced cumbersome glass plates that required more complicated processing. The innovation also became the basis for motion picture film. Eastman obtained a patent for a camera to…

Herb Kelleher b. 1931 What started as a regional carrier serving Dallas, Houston and San Antonio became one of the industry’s pioneering low-cost, no-frills airlines. Founded by Herb Kelleher and partner Rollin King in 1967, Southwest Airlines posted its 35th consecutive year of profitability in 2007. The airline has been known for campy antics—flight attendants singing…

Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson got an early leg-up with a loan from his aunt. Still in his teens, he already had a few ventures that had gone south—growing Christmas trees that were eaten by rabbits and raising parakeets with reproduction rates that far outpaced demand. But he felt good about this latest venture. And things…