Birth Locations – Page 151 – The Exasperated Historian

42) Oscar Swahn

42) Oscar Swahn

He's proof that being old doesn't mean a thing

Born: October 20, 1847, Götaland (Modern Day Sweden)

Died: 1 May 1927, Stockholm, Sweden

He competed in three different Olympic Games and won six medals; and as of 2016 continues to be the oldest athlete to ever compete in the Olympic Games.

In 1912, Oscar was sixty-four years old when he competed and won gold in a shooting competition. He was seventy-two at the games in 1920 when he won silver. He first competed in the 1908 games. Oscar was also supposed to compete at the 1924 games but fell ill and could not attend. His son competed alongside him in all the games and was able to compete in 1924 as well.

When Oscar wasn't participating at the Olympics, he was a clerk at the first Swedish news Agency.

I don't really understand why, but at the time of writing this the official Olympic Organization website has a page on Oscar Swahn. It’s literally just his name, that's it, no articles or information, just his name. Hopefully this means they are working on making an official page for him?

Sources:

https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sw/oscar-swahn-1.html

https://www.olympic.org/news/oscar-swahn

42) Meritaten

Courtesy of: https://mathstat.slu.edu/~bart/egyptianhtml/kings%20and%20Queens/Meritaten.html

42) Meritaten

"She Who is Beloved of Aten"

Born: Possibly Before c.1353 BC, Possibly Thebes, Ancient Egypt (Present-day Luxor, Egypt)

Died: Possibly Around 1134 BC, Ancient Egypt

Notes:

Before I explain who Meritaten was, I feel like I need to explain what was happening in her native land at the time of her life. Meritaten was--in today's terms--a princess of Egypt (princess is not a term used in Egyptology, but I figured that was the easiest way to explain things). Her parents were the Pharaoh Akhenaten and his principal wife Nefertiti (yes, that Nefertiti--her beautiful bust is an iconic image of Ancient Egypt Nefertiti). Her father's reign was something completely unique in Egyptian Antiquity--radical, strange, and flabbergasting to some of the people living under him at the time.

So, what did Akhenaten do? Well, as I'm sure you're at least vaguely aware, Egypt had many many gods. Akhenaten decided he wanted to change the state religion, from polytheistic to monotheistic (kind of anyway). He took the principal deity, Amun, and replaced him with Aten. This period of Egyptian History is called the Amarna Period today and didn't last very long. In fact, the Amarna Period ended after only two Pharaohs--Akhenaten and the next reigning Pharaoh Smenkhare. Once Akhenaten's son Tutankhamun took the throne, King Tut as he is called in popular media, began to return Egypt to the old ways.

So, back to Meritaten herself.

She was the oldest of the six daughters born to Akhenaten and Nefertiti. The sisters were: Meritaten, whom you are currently reading about, Anhkesenamun (the sister-wife of Tutankhamun), Neferneferure, Neferneferuaten-tasherit, and Setepenre. Her parents had no male children between them.

Meritaten was married to Smenkhare, but it is not known if they had any children together. Just like it is not known if Mertitaten-tasherit was the daughter of Meritaten herself or Kiya (really hoping Meritaten-tasherit's mother was Kiya, because her father was Akhenaten--yes really). Tasherit means junior, leading some to believe therefore Meritaten-junior is the daughter of Meritaten, like how we name some people today.

During the latter years of her father, Akhenaten's reign, Meritaten took over some of the roles of being queen. This was after her mother disappears from the historical record.

Smenkhare's reign as Pharaoh was very short lived, and Meritaten disappears from the historical record right around the same time as her husband. Since no grave goods bearing inscriptions for Meritaten have survived, a cause of death or even an approximate age at the time of her death is very hard to quantify. She and her husband may have died from a plague sweeping the area around that time.

Badges Earned:

Find a Grave Marked

Located In My Personal Library:

National Geographic History Magazine Article "King Tut's Unsolved Mysteries" by Ann R Williams (November/December 2022 Edition)

The Pharaohs by Joyce Tyldesley

Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt by Rosalie David

Scanning the Pharaohs by Zahi Hawass and Sahar Saleem

Secret Egypt by Zahi Hawass

When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt by Kara Cooney

Sources:

https://mathstat.slu.edu/~bart/egyptianhtml/kings%20and%20Queens/Meritaten.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/194921619/queen-meritaten

41) Nick Yarris

41) Nick Yarris

His Life Story is a Wild Ride from Start to Finish

Born: 1961, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America

He was wrongly convicted of murder, rape, and abduction and served twenty-one years in prison--on death row.

Nick was pulled over for a traffic violation, but the situation quickly escalated into him being arrested for attempted murder of a police officer. After arriving at the police station, Nick accused someone he knew of committing a murder four days before, known as the Tri-State Mall Murder. He was attempting to get some steam off his back, instead, he was quickly made the prime suspect in the murder.

In 1982, he was convicted of the charges and was sentenced to death. However, Nick continued to claim his innocence. In 1989, he became one of the first death row inmates from the state of Pennsylvania to demand post-conviction DNA testing to confirm his guilt once and for all.

What followed was years of inconclusive testing, but in 2003, Nick was officially biologically cleared by all evidence collected at the crime scenes (the victim's car was found a mile away from her body). His conviction was vacated later that year, making Nick the 140th person in the United States alone to have their conviction vacated after DNA testing proved their innocence. He was the thirteenth death row inmate to be exonerated.

Unfortunately, the story didn't end there. Nick still had thirty years left on his sentence from when he escaped prison custody in Florida in 1985. (Yes, you're reading that right. He still had to serve time after escaping custody while being held for a crime he didn't commit, criminal justice let me tell ya).

In January of 2004, Florida reduced his sentence to the time he had already served, and he was finally released from prison after twenty-one years behind bars.

According to the documentary (where I first learned his story) The Fear of 13 (which is based on one of the books he wrote) Nick was a victim of abuse as a child which made him turn to drugs and led him down dark paths, which explains why he was arrested in the first place. However, life has gotten better since he's left prison, and he's now married. He was reportedly awarded several million dollars in a settlement.

Note:

According to his official website, he served either twenty-two or twenty-three years in prison. The Innocence Project claims twenty-one.

Sources:

https://www.innocenceproject.org/cases/nicholas-yarris/

https://nickyarris.org/blogs/news

41) Melania Trump

41) Melania Trump

Be Best, and if you have something not very nice to say, remember not to type it--in this case--at all

Born: 26 April 1970, Novo Mesto, Yugloslav Republic of Slovenia (Today just Slovenia)

Melania was the former First Lady of the United States; she served during her husband President Donald Trump’s Administration from 2017 to 2021, and is once again First Lady for her husband's second term expected to last from 2025 to 2029.

Melania is the second first lady to ever be born outside of the United States—in then communist Yugoslav Republic of Slovenia.

Melania is the first First Lady to ever become a Naturalized United States Citizen.

She is the mother of Barron Trump and stepmother to Donald Jr, Ivanka, Eric, and Tiffany Trump.

Melania began modeling at the age of sixteen and moved to New York in 1996—becoming a citizen in 2006. From 2005 to 2009 she worked as a Goodwill Ambassador for the American Red Cross. Melania has been involved with various other companies and charities including being Chairwoman of the American Heart Association in 2010.

As First Lady in the first administration, Melania’s focus was children—visiting hospitals and working on her Be Best Campaign to end Cyber bullying. Her other main campaign that received less media attention (sadly) was her fight to end the opioid crisis, specifically hoping to end babies being born addicted to opiates.

Melania has also visited schools and traveled with the President to Houston, Texas, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Parkland, Florida following the tragedies there.

In 2020, a wooden statue erected in Melania's home country of Slovenia was sadly torched. Luckily the artist who commissioned the statue had it rebuilt a few months later; this time in metal to help it last longer.

Badges Earned:

Located In My Personal Library:

Killing the Killers: The Secret War Against Terrorists by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

Sources:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/people/melania-trump/

https://www.biography.com/us-first-lady/melania-trump

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/516711-a-bronze-statue-of-first-lady-melania-trump-was-put-up-near-her

40) Eugene Lazowski

Sometimes I Really Love Science

Born: 1913, Częstochowa, Russian Controlled Poland (Present-day Częstochowa, Poland)

Died: 16 December 2006, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America

Dr. Lazowski has also been called the Polish Schindler.

He saved thousands of Jewish lives in his native Poland by creating a fake epidemic. Apparently, the Nazis didn't want to spread disease by transporting infected Jewish people to camps and so Dr. Lazowski injected people with typhus cells, giving them the appearance of the disease without killing them.

He served as a soldier in the Polish Army at the time of the occupation and had finished medical school previously. Therefore, his primary focus was in medical care for his community, and he served often with his local Red Cross chapter. Before creating the epidemic, he risked his life by serving the local Jews in his community by providing medical care--sometimes under cover of darkness.

He created his epidemic by injecting people with dead typhus cells. By doing this you give someone a positive indicator on the tests without making them succumb to the actual disease. By making this fake epidemic he saved at least 8,000 people from deportation.

After the war he continued to practice medicine but stayed secretive about his role in saving people during the war. He eventually made his way to the United States where he underwent additional schooling to earn his medical license there.

Later in his life a documentary was released chronicling his part in the war, but he still stayed humble. It’s even been reported he never told his wife what he had done. She passed away in 1996.

Sources:

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/dr-eugene-lazowski

40) Laura J Alber

She's proof that you can have a college degree in one thing and a successful career in another

Born: 7 September 1968

Current CEO of Williams-Sonoma (starting in that role in 2010). She is also the President (since 2006) & Director of that same company.

From 2002 to 2006 she was the CEO of Pottery Barn which is a subsidiary of Williams-Sonoma. Laura started with Williams-Sonoma in 1995 as the Senior Buyer for Pottery Barn. She is also a director at Fitbit starting there in 2016. Laura has worked in various management roles throughout Williams-Sonoma during her work there.

Laura has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Sources:

https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=1746387&privcapId=314400&previousCapId=873641&previousTitle=HUDSON%2527S%2520BAY%2520CO

39) Steve Buscemi

He's not on this list for his acting skills (Though he's stellar in every role)

Born: 13 December 1957, New York City, New York, United States of America

Actor known for his roles in films like Fargo, The Big Labowski, and Reservoir Dogs, or, depending on your age, the Spy Kids and Hotel Transylvania Franchises. He was also featured in the Season Fourteen Finale of E.R. and his character was instrumental in the death of the character Dr. Gregory Pratt (But I'm not bitter about that or anything *sniff sniff*)

I chose to place Steve on my list because of the heroic actions he took on 9/11. From 1980 to 1984, Steve worked as a firefighter in New York City. When he heard the news about the attacks on the Twin Towers, he didn't hesitate to jump back into his old job. He worked several twelve-hour shifts searching for survivors in the rubble heaps of what was left of the towers.

He has also continued to speak on the FDNY Union's behalf and stay involved in firefighting functions. Steve is also a member of the Board of Advisors for Friends of Firefighters.

In 2019, news broke that Steve's wife Jo Andres, who was a famous filmmaker in her own right, had passed away at the age of 64. They had been married for thirty-one years and have one son together.

Sources:

https://variety.com/2019/film/obituaries-people-news/steve-buscemi-wife-jo-andres-dead-dies-1203106252/

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000114/bio

https://www.businessinsider.com/on-911-people-remember-how-steve-buscemi-searched-for-survivors-2017-9

39) Rosalind Brewer

39) Rosalind Brewer

What glass ceiling?

Born: 1962, Detroit, Michigan, United States of America

Rosalind serves as Chairperson of the Board of Trustees for Spelman College. She is also on the board of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture.

In 2024, Rosalind was named to United Airline's Board of Directors.

Rosalind is the former COO of Starbucks and former CEO of Sam’s Club. She also served as the CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.

Rosalind stepped down from Walgreens after only three years, during which time the company closed 450 stores in the US and UK. According to CNN (Article linked below):

"As it closes stores, the retailer is also experimenting with newer formats, including one in Chicago where most of the merchandise is intentionally kept out of sight.

The store, located on 2 East Roosevelt Road, at one point offered a typical Walgreens shopping experience – multiple aisles stacked with daily essentials, cosmetics, packaged snacks, health care needs and an in-store pharmacy.

The same location earlier this month reopened with a dramatically pared back look. Walgreens says it’s a digital-first experimental store to benefit customers and not designed to deter theft, Walgreens says."

She is the first woman and the first African American to serve as COO at Starbucks.

Rosalind is married with two children.

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/profile/rosalind-brewer/#3c980bc231d1

https://www.walgreensbootsalliance.com/about-us/leadership/rosalind-brewer

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/united-airlines-names-rosalind-brewer-to-board-of-directors-302073531.html

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/01/business/walgreens-ceo-steps-down/index.html

38) Nick D’Aloisio

Who says teenagers can't make their own dreams come true?

Born: 1 November 1995, London, United Kingdom

In 2013 he sold his two-year old startup company Summly to Yahoo for $30 Million.

He spent the next two years at Yahoo before leaving in 2015 to study philosophy and computer science at Oxford. Nick also spent a summer working for Airbnb as an "Entrepreneur in Residence."

That same year, Nick also started developing a new company called Sphere, but as of March 2019 news around it is still quiet despite them raising a reported $30 million from investors.

Sources:

https://www.ft.com/content/43a05ff4-45b0-11e9-b168-96a37d002cd3

http://oxford.academia.edu/NickDAloisio/CurriculumVitae

38) Abigail Johnson

38) Abigail Johnson

Who Says Family and Business Can't Mix?

Born: 19 December 1961, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Current CEO of Fidelity Inc since 2014 (she took over the position after her father retired) and she has also served as Chairman since 2016.

Abigail's grandfather founded Fidelity in 1946. She began working for the family business in 1988 full time as an analyst.

In 2018 she spearheaded the effort for Fidelity to begin allowing institutional investors to trade in e-currencies like bitcoin.

Its estimated she owns 24.5% stake in the company—or around $2.7 TRILLION in assets. Forbes in July of 2019 calculated her personal net-worth at $15.5 Billion.

So, my question is, why have so few of us heard her name? Think of how much of an inspiration she would be to young girls. Sure, not all of us are born into incredibly rich banking families, but that doesn't mean we cannot rise to the top and become whatever we want to be.

Here's to you Abigail, you are amazing.

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/profile/abigail-johnson/#3295c0f41c42