Dan Gilbert, mortgage broker, philanthropist and

Our staff amassed a list of the 150 Michiganians who most affected the news, history and our lives − for better or worse − in the 150 years of The Detroit News, ranked from 150 to 1 (Read the FAQ on our selection process here). Here are our picks, one a day through our birthday on Aug. 23.

33: Dan Gilbert, mortgage broker, philanthropist and developer (1962-present)

Dan Gilbert lit a rocket under downtown Detroit’s comeback when he moved the headquarters of his Rock Ventures conglomerate to the city in 2010. He brought with him a commitment to remake downtown by buying up and rehabbing vacant and underused buildings. His Bedrock development arm restored and put back into service more than 100 buildings in the central city, and is currently embarked on its most ambitious project, the erection of a giant skyscraper on the old Hudson department store site on Woodward. Along with his Rocket Mortgage Co., Gilbert also owns the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA and dozens of other enterprises. He has donated millions of dollars to his alma maters, Michigan State University and Wayne State University, and to numerous charities and cultural institutions in Detroit. In 2019, Gilbert suffered a stroke that has slowed his involvement in his companies.

▶ About The News:About The News: 150 Detroit News facts in 150 days

34: Charles Stewart Mott, co-founder of General Motors and mayor of Flint (1875-1973)

Charles Stewart Mott had an enormous impact on his adopted hometown of Flint. The industrialist moved his wheel and axle manufacturing business to Flint in 1907 to join operations with fellow automotive pioneer William Durant. Together they formed General Motors Corp, and Mott was its largest single shareholder for decades. Twice elected mayor of Flint, in 1912 and 1918, Mott worked for the betterment of the city. He was the primary benefactor of Flint Senior College, now the University of Michigan-Flint. He ran unsuccessfully for Michigan governor in 1924. Mott served on the GM board for six decades and counted among his proteges automotive legends Alfred Sloan and Charles Kettering. He started the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation in 1926, and in 1965 gave U-M $6.5 million to help build the children’s hospital that bears his name.

35: Stevie Wonder, singer and songwriter (1950 to present)

Stevie Wonder’s music is pure joy, defying a life that has had its struggles. A premature birth left the Saginaw native with a condition that caused blindness. But it didn’t dampen his enormous artistic talents. He started singing in churches at age four, and by the time he was 11 he had moved to Detroit with his family and signed a contract with Motown Records. At the age of 13 he became the youngest performer ever to post a No. 1 hit with his song Fingertips. The singer-songwriter, musician and producer is among the best-selling artists of all time, with sales of 100 million records. He’s won 25 Grammy Awards, the most by a solo artist, and an Academy Award for the song “The Woman in Red.” He is considered a pioneer in R&B, jazz, pop, soul, gospel and funk. He was also an early adopter of the synthesizer in the 1970s, a period in which he won three Album of the Year awards. Wonder has had successful collaborations with other stars, including Paul McCartney (“Ebony and Ivory”) and Michael Jackson (“Just Good Friends.”) He’s also engaged in activism, campaigning for a national holiday for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other causes. In 2009, he was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace, and in 2014 he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

▶ RELATED GALLERY: Stevie Wonder Avenue christening

36: Max Fisher, industrialist and philanthropist (1908-2005)

The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Max M. Fisher attended Ohio State University on a football scholarship and graduated with a degree in business. After graduation, he joined his father’s oil reclamation business as a salesman in Detroit and quit to form his own chain of gasoline service stations. When he sold that business for $40 million, Fisher began investing in real estate, an enterprise that made him one of the richest people in Michigan. His philanthropic and diplomatic efforts, however, that make him most notable. Fisher served as chair of the United Jewish Communities and gave millions of dollars to Jewish causes worldwide. He also was a major donor to the OSU business school, which now bears his name. In Detroit, he was a driving force behind the construction of the Renaissance Center and a sustainer of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and other cultural organizations. The DSO named its music hall in Fisher’s honor. Considered the elder statesman of American Jews, Fisher quietly forged new ties between Washington and Jerusalem as he fathered the rise of American Jewish activism and political engagement. President Jimmy Carter invited him to watch the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1977.

▶ PHOTO GALLERY:The career of Rep. John Conyers Jr.

37: John Conyers Jr., Detroit congressman and civil rights activist (1929-2019)

John Conyers Jr. served Detroit and adjoining communities in Congress for 52 years, from 1965 to 2017. He ranks as the longest serving African American in the House, and the sixth longest serving congressman overall. Conyers served in the Korean War and came home to continue the fight for freedom as a civil rights activist. He was in Selma, Alabama in 1963 for the voter registration drive known as Freedom Day. His political career began as an aide to Rep. John Dingell, who preceded him as the Dean of the House. Conyers, who proudly wore the label as the most liberal member of the House, helped form the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969. Health care was his most persistent issue. A backer of a single-payer health care system, he sponsored the National Health Care Act. Conyers also sponsored the bill honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King with a national holiday and was the first in Congress to introduce legislation to award reparations to the descendants of former slaves. He served as chair of both the House judicial and oversight committees. Conyers resigned from his seat in 2017 amid allegations that he used taxpayer money to settle a staffer’s allegations of sexual harassment.

38: Muhammad Ali, heavyweight boxing champion (1942-2016)

Louisville claims him as a favorite son, but it was Michigan where boxing legend Muhammad Ali spent a large portion of his life. The heavyweight champ bought an 85-acre estate along the St. Joseph River in Berrien Springs and lived there for more than 30 years. He was not a recluse – Ali and his wife, Lonnie, were seen frequently in stores and restaurants and supported several local charitable and civic initiatives. In 1997, he auctioned off a pair of his boxing shorts, a golf bag signed by Tiger Woods, a basketball signed by Micheal Jordan and dinner for eight with him and his wife to raise money to build a track at the local high school. He also helped raise $150,000 for the youth baseball league with which his son played. The family lived in Berrien Springs until 2006, when they moved to Phoenix. Ali won 56 of his 61 professional bouts, 37 by knockouts, and is regarded by many as the greatest heavyweight of all time.

39: Arthur Vandenberg, U.S. senator and champion of the United Nations (1884-1951)

The word statesman must have been created to describe Michigan Sen. Arthur Vandenberg. A biography described him as “the man in the middle of the 20th century,” and that’s an accurate summation of his career. The Republican served Michigan in the Senate from 1928 to 1951. He is best known for leading the effort to create the United Nations in Congress. He also gave critical backing to the Cold War, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan and NATO. Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Vandenberg started his career as a newspaper publisher. He was appointed to the Senate by Gov. Fred Green upon the death of Sen. Woodbridge Ferris. He initially opposed America’s involvement in World War II but became a key figure in leading the Republican Party from isolationism to international engagement, famously saying “politics stops at the water’s edge.” Vandenberg ran for president in 1940 and 1948. Like his predecessor, he died in office.

40: Albert Kahn, architect of Detroit industry (1869-1942)

Detroit got its looks from Albert Kahn. Prolific as an industrial architect during the early 20th Century, Khan designed more than 1,000 buildings for Henry Ford, including the Highland Park plant where the Model T was made and ther Rouge complex in Dearborn. By 1937, the architectural group he led could claim authorship of 19% of the architect-designed factories in the United States. Detroit is filled with his skyscrapers, including the art deco Fisher Building and its neighbor, the General Motors Headquarters. He also crafted the Detroit Athletic Club, the Cranbrook House, the Edsel and Eleanor Ford house, the old Detroit News headquarters, and many homes in Indian Village. With his brother, Khan developed a revolutionary concrete construction method that enabled the building of wider and taller structures. Roughly 60 of his buildings are on the National Register of Historic places.

41: Henry Leland, inventor and founder of Cadillac and Lincoln (1843-1932)

Luxury vehicles owe their origins to Henry Leland. The engineer, inventor and automotive executive founded America’s two premier luxury brands, Cadillac, a division of General Motors Corp., and Lincoln, part of Ford Motor Co. Born in Vermont, Leland worked as a machinist for the Colt firearms company before turning his mechanical skills to the budding automobile industry. He literally got in on the ground floor as an early supplier of engines for Oldsmobiles. He is credited with the development of interchangeable parts and the electric starter. He sold Cadillac to GM, and left the company in a dispute with William Durant, GM’s founder. Lincoln started during World War I to supply aircraft engines. It was converted to luxury car production when the war ended. The company faltered and was bought out of insolvency by Ford. A bit of trivia: Leland also invented the electric barber clippers.

42: Roger Penske, businessman and motor racing czar (1937-present) 

Roger Penske is the very definition of a mogul. Holdings of the billionaire businessman include Bloomfield Hills-based Penske Automotive Group, Penske Truck Leasing, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He is most famous, however, for his success in auto racing. Penske began  by racing Porsches, and in 1961 was named driver of the year by the Sports Car Club of America. He retired as a driver in 1965 to start an auto dealership, and a year later formed his own racing team. Penske is known as the king of auto racing, dominating both the IndyCar and NASCAR series. His drivers have posted more than 500 victories on the track, including 19 Indy 500 wins. Detroit has benefited from Penske’s philanthropy and civic engagement. He headed the effort to bring the Super Bowl to Detroit in 2006, backed the construction of the QLine and this year brought the roar of Indy cars back to the streets of downtown Detroit. In 2019, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

43: Mary Barra, current CEO of General Motors (1961-present)

The first woman to lead one of the Big Three automakers has deep roots with the company she now helms. Barra, born in Royal Oak, started working at General Motors as a co-op student in 1980, when she was 18 years old. Barra attended the General Motors Institute (now Kettering University) and then worked her way up the ranks, taking on a number of leadership roles — including plant manager of the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, vice president of human resources, and leading the global product development division — before she was named CEO in 2014. As top executive, Barra has led the company back from its 2011 bankruptcy to record profits and is now pointing the way to an all-electric future. Barra will be named to the Automotive Hall of Fame this month.

44: Gordie Howe, hockey legend (1928-2016)

The man who would come to be known as “Mr. Hockey” was born in Saskatchewan and began playing hockey when he was eight years old. He made his National Hockey League debut with the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 16, 1946. He would play with Detroit for the next 25 seasons. In his lengthy and legendary career, Howe was a winner of four Stanley Cups, six scoring titles and six MVPs and ranks third in NHL history with 1,850 points, including 801 goals and 1,049 assists. In 1980, at the age of 52, Howe became the oldest player in NHL history, and the only to play across the span of five decades. In 2015, the Prime Minister of Canada along with the Governor of Michigan announced that the publicly owned bridge between Windsor and Detroit would be named the Gordie Howe International Bridge, honoring the pride Howe inspired on both sides of the river.

45: Robert Griffin, senator from Michigan, state Supreme Court justice (1923-2015)

Robert Griffin, a Detroit native, enlisted as an Army infantryman during World War II and served 14 months in the European theater. The Central Michigan University graduate got his law degree from the University of Michigan and began practicing in Traverse City. Griffin was elected to the U.S. House in 1956 from the state’s 9th District, defeating Republican incumbent Ruth Thompson in the GOP primary. Griffin supported both the Civil RIghts Act and the Voting Rights Act. He was appointed to the Senate in 1966 upon the death of Sen. Patrick McNamara. Griffin was an author of the Landrum-Griffin Act, governing the internal affairs of labor unions. He led the filibuster of Supreme Court nominee Abe Fortas, and in 1974 called for the resignation of his friend, President Richard Nixon. After losing his seat to Carl Levin in 1978, he served as a justice of the Michigan Supreme Court.

46: Gretchen Whitmer, current governor of Michigan (1971 to present)

Halfway through Gretchen Whitmer’s first term as governor, the state was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Whitmer joined other governors in declaring a state of emergency and imposing broad shutdowns on Michigan businesses and residents. She set health care reform and a promise to “fix the damn roads” as her first term priorities. She was elected to a second term in 2022 by a large margin, running on a strong pro-choice platform. The Democrat served in the Michigan House from 2001 to 2006 and the Michigan Senate from 2006 to 2015, when she was term-limited out. Whitmer was the first woman to serve as Democratic leader of the Senate. In 2020 her name was floated as a potential running mate for President Joe Biden.

47: William Milliken, Michigan’s longest serving governor (1922-2019)

William Milliken served three full terms and one partial term as governor from 1969 to 1983, making him the longest serving governor in state history. He served one term in the Michigan Senate from Traverse City before being tapped by Republican Gov. George Romney to be his lieutenant governor. When Romney resigned in 1969 to become HUD secretary, Millien took over as governor.