Thomas Fortune Ryan

Ryan, Thomas Fortune (1851–1928), U.S. financier and businessman. With an initial fortune made as a stockbroker, he went on to buy and sell businesses mostly involved in transportation, insurance, and banking. He amassed one of the greatest fortunes in U.S. history, valued at more than $200 million. His prosperous company, Metropolitan Traction Company, was established after he acquired the newly built New York City subway lines (1886). A later company, Consolidated Tobacco Company, was dissolved by order of the government (1911) when it was judged to be a monopoly.