Luther H. Hodges*

In 1898, Luther Hodges was born in a log cabin on a tenant farm in Cascade, Virginia. One of nine children, he struggled to educate himself, leaving home at age 17 to work his way through the University of North Carolina, where he was president of the student body and his senior class. He was a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the biggest honor on campus.

Hodges rose in the business world to become vice president of Marshall Fields and Company, and he later became North Carolina's industry-seeking businessman governor. He served as U.S. secretary of commerce in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and was an outstanding leader in trade expansion. He was chairman of the board of Research Triangle Foundation and director of several large corporations.