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Irvine Robbins
May 5, 2008: Irvine Robbins, 90, American co-founder of the giant Baskin-Robbins ice-cream empire.
Links: Independent
Neil Aspinall
March 24, 2008: Neil Aspinall, 66, business partner, friend and confidant of the Beatles, of cancer. He stepped down as head of Apple Corps last year.
Links: Forbes
Carl Karcher
January 11, 2008: Carl Karcher, 90, US hamburger store owner who built the Carl's Jr empire from one hot-dog stand.
Links: Newsday
Ken Lee
December 21, 2007: Ken Lee, 75, China-born Australian businessman who built up the Bing Lee electrical appliance retail chain.
Links: ABC
John Ilhan
October 23, 2007: John Ilhan, 42, Australian Turkish businessman who became a multi-millionaire building the Crazy John's mobile phone retail chain. He died suddenly, while walking, of a suspected heart attack. The Times
Anita Roddick
September 10, 2007: Anita Roddick, 64, UK founder of the Body Shop ethical cosmetics chain, of a brain haemorrhage.
Links: NY Times
Leona Helmsley
August 20, 2007: Leona Helmsley, 87, US businesswoman and hotelier who was known as "the Queen of Mean". Helmsley, who was jailed for tax fraud, famously observed that "only the little people pay taxes".
Links: NY Times
Brooke Astor
August 13, 2007: Brooke Astor, 105, US socialite and philanthropist who supported some of the great cultural icons of New York, from Carnegie Hall to the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. She gave away US$195 million and made a point of visiting each recipient. She was also a journalist and novelist, and wrote two memoirs.
Links: BBC; Bloomberg
Liz Claiborne
June 26, 2007: Liz Claiborne, 78, Belgian-born American designer who became a leading figure in the fashion world and one of the world's richest women.
Momofuku Ando
January 5, 2007: Momofuku Ando, 96, Taiwan-born Japanese inventor of instant noodles. He built up the Nissin Foods company from scratch and became a celebrity in Japan while his creation became a global phenomenon.
Links: Nissan Foods; BBC
Marmaduke Hussey
December 27, 2006: Marmaduke Hussey, 83, former chairman of the British Broadcasting Corporation. A war hero who had his leg amputated, he spent 30 years in the newspaper industry before taking up the BBC appointment.
Links: Times Online; Media Guardian