2007

Who: Liz Claiborne
Major Accomplishment: Claiborne’s company was the first founded by a woman to enter the rankings of the Fortune 500, in 1986, and she was one of only a handful of women who were chief executives of companies on that list.
Legacy: In her no-nonsense way, she became something of a role model, and her label an inspirational emblem, to those who, like her, were looking to break through glass ceilings.

Who: Merv Griffin
Major Accomplishment: He turned to a game-show idea in which the contestants would be given answers and would have to come up with the questions, losing money — an anomaly for game shows at the time — if they were wrong. “Jeopardy!” ran for 11 years, then was revived nearly a decade later.
Legacy: In 2005, he received a lifetime achievement award at the Daytime Emmys and a similar award from the Paley Center for Media. “There really has been no one who has managed to have his type of success in front of and behind the camera,” Stuart N. Brotman, then president of the museum, said. “He is a one-man conglomerate, and I can’t think of anyone else who has had that reach.”

>>>NEXT: 2008 was another tough one for our media alpha-males…

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.