J. P. Morgan

John Pierpont Morgan was a towering figure in American banking, a Gilded Age titan whose influence reshaped industries and even rescued the U.S. government from financial collapse. He consolidated railroads, formed U.S. Steel, and generally amassed a fortune that would make most modern billionaires blush. All very impressive, of course, if you're into that sort of thing.

Morgan's family tree, however, was as WASP as they come. His ancestors were prominent New England Yankees, staunchly Protestant and deeply rooted in American colonial history. There’s not a hint of a menorah or a bar mitzvah anywhere in the lineage, unless you count his steely gaze as being "old testament" in its intensity.

While his financial prowess was undeniable, his philanthropic endeavors were also substantial, funding museums, hospitals, and churches — specifically, Episcopal ones. From a kvell perspective, unless your kvell extends to establishing dynastic fortunes and averting national financial crises (without a single Jewish grandparent to credit), his contributions are more broadly American than specifically "our people" worthy. He wasn't exactly building a yeshiva, if you catch our drift.