George V. Forman was a founder of VanderGrift, Forman & Company, which became part of the Standard Oil Company. Forman was also a prominent Buffalo banker in the late 1800s and early 1900s, founding the Fidelity Trust and Guaranty Company, which later merged with the Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company to become M&T Bank.

John Joseph Albright was a businessman and philanthropist, and one of Buffalo's leading socialites at the turn of the 20th century.