Alexander M. Lewyt*

Alexander Lewyt was born in 1908 in New York City's Washington Heights district. He was the son of an Austrian immigrant who ran a shop that made coat hangers and other metal gadgets. While in high school, Lewyt worked in his father's shop, taking it over upon his father's death and renaming it Lewyt Corp.

During World War II, the company did well manufacturing radar antennas and popcorn poppers. He is best known for the Lewyt vacuum cleaner, which he invented after going door to door asking housewives what they were looking for in a vacuum. His machine was compact and used no dust bag. It was popular because it operated without distorting radio or television reception.

In the late 1950s, Lewyt was instrumental in establishing the North Shore Animal League, which became the world's largest no-kill animal rescue and adoption organization. A director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lewyt had an art collection that included works by Bonnard, Cezanne, Degas, Gauguin, and Renoir.