John D. Hertz

John Daniel Hertz Sr. (1879-1961) was a businessman, born Sandor Herz in Austria-Hungary, who emigrated to Chicago as a child and became a central figure in American ground transportation. In 1915 he founded the Yellow Cab Company, applying mass production and standardized bright yellow paint to build one of the country's largest taxi fleets, and in 1924 he launched the Hertz Drive-Ur-Self System, an early self drive car rental business that grew into the Hertz Corporation, still one of the world's largest car rental companies. Hertz's ventures helped establish both the modern taxi industry and the car rental industry as organized, branded businesses rather than informal local services. He later became known as a thoroughbred horse racing owner and, with his wife Fannie, endowed the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation to fund scientific research.