Grover A. Whalen*

Grover Whalen was born in New York City in 1886. After high school, he studied law and then held several political appointments. In 1924, he joined Wanamaker department stores as general manager. He then became vice president of operations for the American Trans-Oceanic Co.

In 1928, Whalen was appointed to the position of New York City police commissioner and became known as a strict enforcer of Prohibition laws. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia later appointed him as New York's official greeter. He served in this capacity until the early 1950s and he officially welcomed everyone from Charles Lindbergh to General Douglas MacArthur to New York, and then became master of the city's ticker-tape parade.

In 1935, he became president of the New York World's Fair Corp., earning a spot on the May 1, 1939, cover of Time magazine.