It's about a poor, fatherless boy named William Wieboldt who comes to Chicago alone in 1871 at age 14 from his native Germany, clerks in his uncle's general store for 12 years and saves $2,600, enough to marry Anna Krueger, another German immigrant, and go out on his own.

He will make millions as a merchant through hard work, intelligence and consideration for his customers, and when he dies in 1954, at age 97, Wieboldt's has become a household word in the Chicago area.

Established with a bequest of $4 million ($35 million in today's dollars), the Wieboldt Foundation is the city's oldest family-endowed foundation and is second in longevity among local foundations only to the Chicago Community Trust (by six years).