J. William Diederich, who died of cancer on March 27, irrevocably changed the way people plan their lives, in a small, but very significant way. He founded the Weather Channel.

According to The Virginian-Pilot, Diederich originally hoped to create CNN-like 24-hour news channel, but Ted Turner beat him to the punch. Not to be deterred, he used his B-school savvy and applied the same formula to Mother Nature to great success.

First and foremost a family man, however, his greatest achievement - according to the obituary that he himself wrote shortly before dying - was not his business conquests, but his children.

As The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal points out, Diederich felt more loyalty towards Marquette University - where he both earned his undergraduate degree and journalism and met his wife - but I hardly think we can hold that against him.