Gordon R. Yaeger (1927-2005) is known for piloting the Bell Rocket Belt at the 1964 New York City World Fair, in the James Bond movie Thunderball , in The Reluctant Astronaut starring Don Knotts, and on the TV shows Gilligan's Island and Lost in Space . [1] [2]
Yaeger was born on May 5, 1927, and went to Burgard High School in Buffalo, New York, before attending the University at Buffalo and UCLA. He moved his family to Amherst, New York in 1955. He worked for Bell Aircraft Corporation in Wheatfield, New York. [1] [2]
In 2008, the Town of Amherst named a street after him. [3]
On January 23, 2005, Yaeger died in Buffalo Hospice in Cheektowaga aged 77 after a long illness. He left behind his wife Nancy, eight children and 15 grandchildren. [1] [2]
Amherst is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. Amherst is the most populous town in New York state outside of the New York City metropolitan area, and an inner ring suburb of Buffalo. As of 2020, the town had a total population of 129,595. This represents an increase of 5.9% from the 2010 census.
Gordon Bunshaft,, was an American architect, a leading proponent of modern design in the mid-twentieth century. A partner in the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), Bunshaft joined in 1937 and remained for more than 40 years. The long list of his notable buildings includes Lever House in New York, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., the National Commercial Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 140 Broadway and Manufacturers Hanover Trust Branch Bank in New York; the last was the first post-war "transparent" bank on the East Coast.
Larry Felser was a sports columnist and writer for the Buffalo Courier-Express and later, The Buffalo Evening News, where he was a football beat writer, a columnist, and rose to the position of Sports Editor. Felser also wrote a column for The Sporting News.
Prometheus Books is a publishing company founded in August 1969 by the philosopher Paul Kurtz. The publisher's name was derived from Prometheus, the Titan from Greek mythology who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to man. This act is often used as a metaphor for bringing knowledge or enlightenment.
Charles Humphrey Atherton, an American Federalist politician, banker and a distinguished attorney from New Hampshire.
Willard Sterling Boyle, was a Canadian physicist. He was a pioneer in the field of laser technology and co-inventor of the charge-coupled device. As director of Space Science and Exploratory Studies at Bellcomm he helped select lunar landing sites and provided support for the Apollo space program.
Allen Edward Dekdebrun was an American Football quarterback and politician from Buffalo, New York. As a professional football player, Dekdebrun was a career journeyman, playing in the All-America Football Conference, National Football League, Interprovincial Rugby Football Union, and Ontario Rugby Football Union, changing teams on an annual basis. He played college football at Cornell University, where he was also a member of the Quill and Dagger society, and high school football at Burgard High School in Buffalo. He attended Columbia for his freshman year before transferring to Cornell.
Rex Ashley Ryan is an American former football coach and a television analyst. Ryan was formerly the head coach of the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL), and also held various coaching positions with eight other NFL and college teams.
Richard J. Burke was an Irish-American journalist, poet and playwright. He was born in Buffalo, New York on October 9, 1915, the son of Joseph Raymond Burke and Josephine Catherine Keating. He was married on October 19, 1940 to Josephina Battaglia the daughter of Carmelo Battaglia of Monte Maggiore Belsito, Palermo, Sicily, and Antonia Fasulo of Burgio, Agrigento, Sicily.
WUFO is a radio station licensed to Amherst, New York, and serves the Buffalo metropolitan area. It currently airs a hybrid Urban AC/Classic hip hop format. Its studios are located on Broadway Avenue in Buffalo, while its transmitter is located on Genesee Street in Cheektowaga.
Bruce S. Kershner was an environmentalist, author, high school biology teacher and forest ecologist.
Isaac Bell Jr. was an American businessman and diplomat.
Northrup Rand Knox, was a Buffalo banker, sportsman, and community leader who, along with his brother Seymour, brought the National Hockey League to Buffalo, New York, as founders of the Buffalo Sabres. Knox was the third generation of the Knox family to serve as chairman of Marine Midland Bank and its predecessors. His father Seymour H. Knox II and grandfather Seymour H. Knox I also served as chairmen. He was also a past chairman of the Buffalo Sabres. He was chairman and governor of the United States Polo Association.
Sebastian Daniel "Sibby" Sisti was an American Major League Baseball utility player.
Lloyd Saxon Graham was an American epidemiologist. Born in Buffalo, New York, Graham completed undergraduate training at Amherst College and earned his PhD from Yale University in 1951. As Chair of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University at Buffalo, Graham authored work on the nutritional epidemiology of cancer. Graham was author or co-author of over 200 major papers. Graham was a founding Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and the namesake of two distinguished research prizes at the University of Buffalo, the Saxon Graham Award and Saxon Graham Research Prize, and is commemorated by an ongoing Saxon Graham lecture series on public health. Graham's father-in-law was physician Hugh Jackson Morgan, Chair of the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University.
Jim Gordon was an American television and radio newscaster and play-by-play sportscaster in the New York City area for nearly 40 years.
William Aubert Luce was an American writer, primarily for the stage and television. He wrote several plays which starred Julie Harris, and specialized in one-person plays.
Raymond W. Walter is an American politician. A Republican, he served as a member of the New York State Assembly representing Assembly District 146, which comprises the Towns of Amherst in Erie County and Pendleton in Niagara County.
William R. Greiner was President of the University at Buffalo (UB) in the State University of New York (SUNY) system from 1991 to 2004, where he worked for 42 years. Prior to becoming President, Greiner served in other capacities in the University at Buffalo Law School, and in UB's administration. He was educated at both Yale University and Wesleyan University, earning degrees in economics and law, including a doctorate in law from Yale. Under Greiner's leadership, research, educational, sports, arts, and student living complexes were constructed. Greiner co-wrote two books. He retired from UB in 2009, and died shortly thereafter due to heart surgery complications.
Nicholas A. Langworthy is an American politician serving as chair of the New York State Republican Committee. Langworthy was named chair of the Committee in July 2019 after having chaired the Erie County, New York Republican Committee since 2010.