George W. Gardner (1834–1911) was a grain dealer and the 28th and 30th Mayor of Cleveland, serving two terms as a Republican. He was also co-proprietor with John D. Rockefeller and Maurice B. Clark of the firm Clark, Gardner & Company, later Clark & Rockefeller, commission merchants. They were the largest grain dealers in Cleveland before Rockefeller went on with Clark in the oil industry.

Wellington Smith was a pioneer American paper manufacturer from Lee, Massachusetts. He was the cofounder of the Smith Paper Company with his uncle, Senator Elizur Smith, and became the largest paper manufacturer in the United States. He was made president of the American Paper Makers Association, leading with Senator Warner Miller, and became a millionaire within his lifetime.