Sam Zemurray

A Russian Jewish immigrant who immigrated to Selma, Alabama in 1891 at the age of 14.

Samuel Z. Murray, also known as Sam the Banana Man.

He jumped into the fruit game with both feet when he bought his first load of bananas in 1895.

Turned a $150 investment into a six-figure net worth by the time he was 21.

...

in a few years, yeah, multimillionaire in today's money, and comes to be known as Sam the Banana Man, which I love, uh, not because of the obvious rhyme between Sam and man, 'cause of the subtler rhyme of banana, the off rhyme of s- banana with both Sam and man.

It's poetic.

Sam the Banana Man.

Sam the Banana Man.

Now, Sam the Banana Man starts to vertically integrate.

He buys some old ships, along with a partner, that bring bananas from Central America to Mobile and New Orleans.

And then, uh, in 1910, he takes the next step in the value chain.

If they were in my shoes, they'd feel the same way, and if I was in their shoes, I'd feel the same way.

And that's also true with people like Sam Zemurray, even though he was incredibly talented, ambitious, smart, had a lot of energy, did all these things, he still at the end of the day wanted to do the right thing, and he still felt at some level that he wasn't doing the right thing, which is why he tried to make it right-

Yes

... you know, by a charity and everything else he did.