i want to find out who were the most successful businessmen in the
great depression days and after recovery. My angle is to study people
who were successful despite great depression and made great fortunes. 
Especially people who did not become rich through inheritence but
intelligence and resourcefulness.

If there was a link to forbes richest people from the 1929 onwards that
wuld be perfect. i tried and could not find that.

can you help ?

sam

Here's one:

"Joseph Kennedy Sr., starting from a solidly middle class family in
Boston, created a fortune that gave his children and grandchildren the
freedom to pursue public service. Kennedy's business ventures included
banking, stock trading, producing movies and selling liquor. He
thought to get out of the stock market before the crash of 1929 --
after the major devaluation of everyone else's portfolios, his family
was only more wealthy during the Great Depression, in the 1930s."
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kennedys/peopleevents/e_wealth.html