Bruce R. Bent – A graduate of St. John’s University, Bent is best known for inventing the world’s first money market fund, The Reserve Fund, in 1970. He developed an industry worth more than $2.2 trillion, serving tens of millions of investors.

Robert Corti – The Chief Financial Officer of Avon Products, Inc., one of the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of beauty #Lloyd and related products, is a graduate of Queens College.

John B. Cullen – Ranked in the Top 75 grocery stores in the U.S., Cullen is the co-chairman/CEO of King Kullen grocery company. Cullen is from Jamaica.

Michael J. Cullen – Founder of America’s first supermarket, King Kullen, which opened its first branch on Jamaica Avenue in 1930. Three generations later, King Kullen is still family controlled and operated

Paul Gibson – Served as deputy Mayor under Mayor Abraham Beame and as Vice President of American Airlines. From Jamaica, Gibson won a 2003 African American Heritage Award.

Carol Hochman – The president and CEO of the activewear company Danskin, Inc. since 1999, Hochman is a graduate of Queens College.

Carl Icahn – This Queens-born airline executive is the billionaire that took over TWA until 1993. His estimated net worth is $7.6 billion, according to Forbes in 2004. He is now the owner of lowestfares.com, which deals with multiple airlines, enabling him to acquire tickets at extremely low prices.

Lewis Latimer – His Flushing landmark home, where the black scientist lived from 1902 until his death in 1928, has been recently turned into a museum, honoring Latimer’s contributions toward the development of the light bulb.

Estee Lauder (Josephine Esther Menzer) – Born in 1908 in Queens, she kept her age a secret up until her death last year. She was the founder and chief developer for the international cosmetics empire that bears her name.

Sam LeFrak – In the 1960s, the innovative real estate developer began work on the housing development that bears the LeFrak name, a 5,000-apartment complex situated on 40 acres off the Long Island Expressway. Learning the family business from his father Harry, the LeFrak Organization is one of New York’s largest private landlords holding more than 61,000 apartments in New York City and New Jersey, along with 30,000 under management.

Allan Z. Loren – This Queens College graduate spent six years as executive vice president and chief information officer at American Express until he retired in 2000 and became the CEO of the Dun & Bradstreet Operating Company.

Frank Lorenzo – Born in Queens in 1940, he became one of the most controversial figures in the commercial airlines industry. He owned numerous airline companies, including Continental Airlines, New York Air, Frontier Airlines and Eastern Airlines. He left the business in 1991.

Peter Kalikow – The current MTA chairman, Kalikow also serves on the board of directors for the Republican Jewish Coalition and has received numerous civic achievements and awards. He is the president of H.J. Kalikow & Co., one of New York City’s leading real estate firms. He is the former owner and publisher of the New York Post.

David Neeleman – Born and raised in Brazil until the age of 12, this innovative airline CEO based his airline company, JetBlue, in Kew Gardens. The former ex-Southwest executive turned innovator has made JetBlue one of the most successful airline start-ups in the country.

Robert Moog – Inventor of the first electronic music synthesizer, the Moog Synthesizer, he attended Queens College for physics. On Feb. 26, 2002, he received the prestigious Technical Grammy Award for his achievements.

Eugene Murphy – The retired Vice-Chairman of the Board and Executive Officer of the U.S. multinational, General Electric graduated from Queens College in 1956.

Murray Pergament – He was the founder, CEO and Chairman of Pergament Home Centers, one of the biggest retail chains for home improvement in the City until it was sold in 2001. His biological father died when he was 1, and his mother, the former Marie Hollander, married Louis Pergament. When Murray was 40, he was formally adopted by the man he had always considered his father. He lived with his family for a short time behind one of their stores in St. Albans.

Keith Perrin – In 1992, along with three friends, Perrin founded FUBU (For Us, By Us), an urban clothing line. He attended PS 33 in Jamaica.

Russell Simmons – Founder of Def Jam Records, he has also produced films and acted in a few, including, “Butter.” Born in Queens, Simmons is one of the most powerful and respected men in hip-hop today. In 1979 Simmons was organizing rap parties in southeast Queens. He signed his friend Curtis Walker (Kurtis Blow) to the first rap artist contract. In 1982 his brother Joseph had started a band, RUN DMC, and Simmons was their manager. In 1984 he joined with punk rock fan Rick Rubin to form a record label for punk and rap called Def Jam. The label’s first artist was Queens native LL Cool J. When the Beastie Boys were signed and released their first album, “License To Ill,” Def Jam was launched into the stratosphere and ran a cross-country tour featuring the Beastie Boys and RUN DMC. Many people didn’t get it, but those who did helped make Def Jam one of the hottest labels in the business. After nearly two decades of success, Simmons branched out into spoken word, organizing the Def Poetry Jam for aspiring young poets.

Peter J. Tobin – Former Chief Financial Officer of the Chase Manhattan Corporation, he got his bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University in 1965. The university renamed the college of business administration to Peter J. Tobin College of Business in 2000. Today, he is still very active in the business community, is a philanthropist and serves as a Special Assistant to President Donald J. Harrington at his alma mater.

Donald Trump – This Jamaica Estates-born billionaire has several businesses, including casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and the hit show, “The Apprentice,” with a net worth of $2.5 billion, according to Forbes. He has bought, sold and built more property in Manhattan than many competing developers. He rose to fame in the early 1980s when he took over the floundering Wollman Rink project in Central Park and completed in four months what the city had been unable to do in six years. He now owns the rink. The construction of Trump Tower and his purchase of scads of high-priced real estate along the southern edge of the park (including the Plaza Hotel, temporarily renamed the Trump Plaza) added to his fortune.

Frederick Trump – Father of billionaire Donald Trump, and multi-millionaire himself, Fred was a real estate developer who became rich with the building and operating of rental barracks in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. He has been noted as one of the many major developers in the New York metropolitan area who developed massive amounts of real estate and fortunes without anybody knowing what they were worth.

Daniel P. Tully – Former CEO and board member of Merrill Lynch & Company, from 1993-97, he helped build Merrill to the company it is today. He also served as vice chairman of both the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange and was a founding member of the Ireland Chamber of Commerce in the United States after attending St. John’s University.

Charles Wang – CEO and founder of the third largest software company in the U.S., Computer Associates. He was born in Shanghai, China, but moved to Queens in 1944. He attended Queens College, where he obtained a BS in mathematics in 1966.

Robert Wann – He has been Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of New York Community Bancorp, Inc. and its primary subsidiary, New York Community Bank, since 2003. He joined the bank as a staff accountant in 1982 after graduating from Queens College with a degree in Accounting. He serves on the advisory board for Queens College and was a president of the Flushing Central Lions Club.

Aldo Zucaro – The chairman, president and CEO of Old Republic International Corporation, one of the 50 largest publicly held insurance organizations, graduated from Queens College.