Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as the co-founder and promoter of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and the for-profit Wikia web-hosting company. Wales was born in Huntsville, Alabama, where he attended Randolph School, a university-preparatory school. Later he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in finance from Auburn University. While in post-graduate school, he taught at two universities, but left before completing a PhD to take a job in finance and later worked as the research director of a Chicago futures and options firm. In 1996, he and two partners founded Bomis, a male-oriented web portal featuring entertainment and adult content. The company would provide the initial funding for the peer-reviewed free encyclopedia Nupedia and its successor, Wikipedia. On January 15, 2001, with Larry Sanger and others, Wales launched Wikipedia?a free, open content encyclopedia that enjoyed rapid growth and popularity; as Wikipedia's public profile grew, he became the project's promoter and spokesman. He is historically cited as a co-founder of Wikipedia, though he has disputed the "co-" designation, declaring himself the sole founder. [More at Wikipedia]

August 7th, 1966 in Huntsville (Age 58) as Jimmy Donal Wales