People: M

M

• MacKenzie ScottNovelist and philanthropist; established Yield Giving.
• Madeleine AlbrightU.S. Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001.
• Mahmoud AbbasPLO Executive Committee member who signed the 1993 Declaration of Principles for the PLO; later President of the Palestinian Authority.
• Major RidgeCherokee leader who led the minority "Treaty Party" and signed the Treaty of New Echota.
• Manuel I of Portugal 1469–1521King of Portugal from 1495 to 1521.
• Mao ZedongCommunist Party leader of China during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.
• Mark ForknerBoeing’s former chief technical pilot for the 737 MAX; tried in 2022 on wire-fraud charges and acquitted.
• Mark Twain 1835–1910American writer; author of the 1905 satire King Leopold's Soliloquy.
• Mark Zuckerberg 14 May 1984 –Founder, chair and chief executive of Meta Platforms (Facebook).
• Marquis de LafayetteFrench officer who fought in the American Revolution, commanded the Paris militia in 1789 and sent the key of the Bastille to Washington.
• Martin C. SchmalzFinance economist at the University of Oxford's Saïd Business School; co-author of a 2018 study of common ownership of US airlines.
• Martin EllingFormer McKinsey senior partner who worked on Purdue matters.
• Martin GilensPolitical scientist; co-author, with Benjamin Page, of “Testing Theories of American Politics” (2014).
• Martin Luther 1483–1546German friar and professor of theology at Wittenberg whose objections to indulgences in 1517 began the Reformation.
• Mary Maxwell Gates 1929 – 10 Jun 1994Seattle civic leader, University of Washington regent and United Way board member; mother of Bill Gates.
• Matt FurlongAmerican e-commerce executive who led Amazon's Australian business, then was GameStop's chief executive from June 2021 to June 2023.
• Matthew GentzkowEconomist; co-author of "What Drives Media Slant?".
• Matthew RestallHistorian of colonial Latin America; author of Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest (2003).
• Matthew RycroftBritish official in Downing Street who wrote the minute of the Prime Minister's Iraq meeting of 23 July 2002.
• Maurice JolyFrench author of the 1864 satire Dialogue in Hell, which the Protocols plagiarised.
• Maurice StansFinance chairman of President Nixon’s 1972 re-election committee.
• Max AltmanVenture investor; a co-founder of Saga Ventures; brother of Sam Altman.
• MaxixcatzinLeading lord of Tlaxcala who sat in the council that took Cortés as an ally; Cortés writes that he died of smallpox.
• Maye MuskModel and nutritionist; mother of Elon and Kimbal Musk.
• Melchior LotterPrinter in Leipzig and Wittenberg who printed Luther's authorized Explanations of the theses and the German New Testament.
• Melinda French GatesPhilanthropist; co-founder of the Gates Foundation until 2024; founder of Pivotal.
• Melissa DellAmerican economist; her 2010 article studies the long-run effects of the Potosí labour draft.
• Melvin Dresher 1911–1992American mathematician at the RAND Corporation.
• Menachem BeginPrime Minister of Israel who signed the Camp David Accords in 1978.
• Merrill Flood 1908–1991American mathematician at the RAND Corporation.
• Metacom (King Philip)Chief Sachem of the Wampanoag in the war of 1675.
• Michael FriedmanFormer president of the Purdue Frederick Company.
• Michael K. WirthChairman and chief executive officer of Chevron Corporation.
• Michael MoritzVenture capitalist at Sequoia Capital; Google director from 1999.
• Michael StumoFather of Samya Stumo, who died on Ethiopian Airlines flight 302.
• Michele Sindona until 22 Mar 1986Italian financier, convicted in the United States and in Italy; died in prison in 1986.
• Mike BezosEngineer; father of Jeff Bezos, who took his name; early Amazon investor; co-founder of the Bezos Family Foundation.
• Mike Markkula 1942 –Early Apple investor and director from 1977. He was chairman from 1977 to 1981 and again from 1993 to 1996, and president and CEO from 1981 to 1983.
• Mike MullerBritish researcher who wrote War on Want's 1974 report The Baby Killer.
• Mike PompeoU.S. Secretary of State who issued the determination on Xinjiang of 19 January 2021.
• Mikhail Gorbachev 2 Mar 1931 – 30 Aug 2022Last leader of the Soviet Union: Communist Party General Secretary from 1985, President of the USSR 1990–1991.
• Mir JafarCommander under the Nawab of Bengal whom the Company installed as Nawab after Plassey in 1757.
• Mira MuratiEngineer; named OpenAI's interim CEO on 17 November 2023.
• Miriam AdelsonDonor who gave $100 million to groups backing Trump in the 2024 cycle, by 1 November 2024, according to the Brennan Center.
• Moctezuma IIRuler of Tenochtitlan when the Spaniards arrived; held by them from soon after their arrival in November 1519, and dead by early July 1520.
• Mohammad Mossadegh 1882–1967Prime Minister of Iran from 1951 until his overthrow on 19 August 1953.
• Mohammad Reza Pahlavi 1919–1980Shah of Iran until 1979.
• Mohammed DeifCommander of the military wing of Hamas; subject of an ICC arrest warrant of 21 November 2024, terminated in February 2025 after the Prosecution reported his death.
• Mortimer D. A. SacklerMember of the family that owned Purdue Pharma; named in the 2020 Justice Department civil settlement.
• MosesProphet and lawgiver in Judaism, Christianity and Islam; in the Hebrew Bible, leader of the Exodus.
• Muhammad c. 570 – 8 Jun 632Arab religious leader regarded in Islam as the final prophet.