Business Magnate. Born Sandor Herz on April 10, 1879. When he was five years old, Mr. Hertz's family immigrated to this country from the little village of Vrutsky, in what was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and later became Czechoslovakia.In his early twenties, he met Fannie Kesner, a member of a well-to-do Chicago family, and they were married on July 15, 1903. The marriage proved to be an enduring and happy one. They had three children: the late Leona Hertz Saks, the eldest; the late John Hertz, Jr., a former advertising executive; and the late Helen Hertz Hexter. Frannie Hertz always supported and was hand in hand with many of her husband's business interests, while caring for their family. His business interests were very wide, just to name a few: to his early days as being a sports writer for the then Chicago Record (his employment was terminated when the Record and Herald merged) to include the now famous Yellow Cab Company, Hertz Drive-Yourself Corporation which is now known as Hertz Rent A Car, 2 Kentucky Derby winners with one of them winning The Triple Crown (both horses- Reigh Count and Count Fleet were registered in his wife Fannie's name as owner), established Stone Creek Farms, was on the Board of Directors at General Motors which this occurred after the sale of Yellow Cab Manufacturing Company to GM, which eventually became the truck division for the company. He also was invested in air and motorbus modes of transportation to include TWA (owned 11% of its stock & had one time control over its board, which later went to Howard Hughes) and various New York (Fifth Avenue Coach Company) and Chicago motorcoach companies, which the latter becoming the Chicago Transit Authority when he sold the company.The two combined companies were at the time known as Omnibus Corporation, which would be later changed to the Hertz Corporation. He would later be invited to become a major partner in Lehman Brothers investment-banking firm in 1933, and would continue to remain a member of the firm until his death.He was also a defendant in a case that was one of the first of a few that the U.S. Government would bring against the Hollywood establishment. Called the Paramount Antitrust Case, 1938-1949 (United States v. Paramount, et al.), the Justice Department, unsatisfied with the unsuccessful attempts at curbing the power of the studios, they included in all of the major executives and owners associated with the majors. The "Big Eight" as they were called, were five theatre owners- the majors (Paramount,MGM (Loew's), Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Fox and RKO), and three non- theatre owners- the minors (Universal,Columbia and United Artists). Hertz was one of the Paramount defendants. The 1948 Supreme Court decision in this case was a crushing blow to the Hollywood studios, which effectively brought an end to the studio system of classic cinema. John D. Hertz died in 1961 (actual month and day are unknown. His wife's birth and death are unknown as well at this time). There is a foundation that bears he and his wife's name that continues their works through grants, scholarships and other endeavors made possible by them.