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Pryor, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Pryor, Richard, 1940–2005, American comedian, b. Peoria, Ill. His iconoclastic, wildly inventive, and racially explosive comic style was expressed in language that was often crude and frequently bri...

Peters, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Peters, Richard, 1744–1828, American jurist, b. Philadelphia. After serving as secretary of the board of war (1776–81), he was briefly in the Continental Congress (1782–83) and then in the state...

Schlesinger, James Rodney

(Encyclopedia)Schlesinger, James Rodney, 1929–2014, U.S. secretary of defense (1973–75) and secretary of energy (1977–79), b. New York City. After graduating from Harvard (A.B., 1950; A.M., 1952; Ph.D., 1956)...

Lee, William

(Encyclopedia)Lee, William, 1739–95, American Revolutionary diplomat, b. Westmoreland co., Va.; brother of Arthur Lee, Francis L. Lee, and Richard H. Lee. He opened a business house in London in 1768 and later wa...

Ford, John, American film director

(Encyclopedia)Ford, John, 1895–1973, American film director, b. Cape Elizabeth, Maine, as John Martin Feeney. Ford began directing in 1917 after an apprenticeship with his brother Francis. Over the next 50 years,...

entrepreneur

(Encyclopedia)entrepreneur änˌtrəprənûrˈ [key] [Fr.,=one who undertakes], person who assumes the organization, management, and risks of a business enterprise. It was first used as a technical economic term by...

Dearborn

(Encyclopedia)Dearborn, city (2020 pop. 109,976), Wayne co., SE Mich., on the River Rouge, adjoining Detroit; settled 1795, consolidated with the city of Fordson in 1...

Richardson, Elliot Lee

(Encyclopedia)Richardson, Elliot Lee, 1920–99, U.S. government official, b. Boston. Admitted to the bar in 1949, he was (1957–59) assistant secretary of health, education and welfare under President Dwight D. E...

Fuller, R. Buckminster

(Encyclopedia)Fuller, R. Buckminster (Richard Buckminster Fuller), 1895–1983, American architect and engineer, b. Milton, Mass. Fuller devoted his life to the invention of revolutionary technological designs aime...

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