Buzz
Anyone fortunate enough to have a loving father understands the profound impact his care and encouragement can have on a child's life. Some dedicated dads have even shaped history for the better, though their contributions often go unrecognized by historians.
The fathers on this list may not be household names, even though their actions have had a lasting impact on history. Unlike infamous figures like the ruthless Henry VIII, who banished his daughter Elizabeth and had his wife executed, these fathers demonstrated genuine love for their children. Through their devotion, they gave invaluable gifts to the world.
10. Amilcare Anguissola
During the Renaissance, most noble fathers limited their daughters' education to skills like music and needlework, activities intended to attract a wealthy or prestigious husband. It was extremely rare for a young aristocratic woman to pursue a profession, especially an artistic one such as painting.
Italian nobleman Amilcare Anguissola had six daughters and one son, all of whom received top-tier Renaissance educations. When Amilcare saw that his eldest daughter, Sofonisba, had exceptional talent for painting, he did more than fund her studies with a famous artist—though even that was uncommon. Amilcare used his influence to connect Sofonisba with Michelangelo, the greatest Italian master of the era. Instead of marrying her off early, he allowed Sofonisba to cultivate her artistic skills. The proud father even promoted his daughter’s artwork to influential individuals who could help build her reputation as a gifted artist.
The guidance and education that Amilcare provided enabled Sofonisba Anguissola to become the first renowned female painter of the Renaissance. Though she was an aristocrat and never sold her works, Sofonisba was invited to live at King Philip II of Spain's palace, where she painted portraits of royal family members. Her portraits, celebrated during her lifetime for their lifelike realism, introduced a new, informal style and were among the first to feature smiling subjects. Sofonisba's recognition helped pave the way for other female artists, and her works were so masterful that they were often mistakenly attributed to great male artists of the Renaissance, such as Titian and Leonardo da Vinci. One of her famous pieces is the portrait of a father and his two children, in which the father is Amilcare Anguissola, immortalized by his daughter's skill.
9. Candido Jacuzzi
Candido Jacuzzi was the youngest of seven inventive brothers. The family moved from a small Italian town to Berkeley, California, in the early 1900s. By the 1930s, the brothers owned Jacuzzi Brothers, Inc., a company that designed submersible pumps for agricultural use. It was Candido who made the name “Jacuzzi” famous after his son fell seriously ill.
In the winter of 1942–43, Ken Jacuzzi, still under two years old, contracted a fever that eventually left him severely disabled with systemic juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, affecting him “from neck to knees.” Candido sold off assets to spend more time at home with his son, paying for physical therapists and trying various treatments—from goat’s milk to gold injections—but nothing seemed to work. However, Candido discovered a real breakthrough when doctors found that hydrotherapy helped alleviate Ken’s pain.
The nearest hospital with a hydrotherapy unit was too far, and the long trip exhausted Ken. So Candido set to work redesigning a sump pump used for draining basements into a water jet. He added an air inlet to mix water and air, producing a whirlpool effect. This innovation allowed Ken to have hydrotherapy at home, in the family bathtub, offering him relief. Doctors were impressed with the improved circulation in Ken’s blood, preventing muscle atrophy. Candido was relieved to finally be helping his son.
Following a doctor’s recommendation, Candido patented his invention for medical use. In 1966, he designed a tub with a built-in pump, securing a patent for the first version of the Jacuzzi “hot tub.” What became known simply as the “Jacuzzi” became a worldwide symbol of relaxation and luxury. These whirlpools became synonymous with leisure, and the term even came to represent the “celebrity lifestyle,” often associated with Hollywood. It’s likely that someone reading this list owes their conception to Candido’s creation.
8. Joseph Friedman
In 1936, Joseph Friedman took his young daughter, Judith, to a soda fountain called the Varsity Sweet Shop in San Francisco, where he bought her a milkshake. Judith struggled to drink from the straw because it was too high, and when she bent it to reach her mouth, the straw got kinked and blocked the flow. This moment gave Joseph an idea to make drinking easier for his little girl.
In his workshop, Joseph inserted a screw into a paper straw—a common type of straw at the time, coated with wax. He then wrapped dental floss around the screw threads to create grooves in the straw. After removing the floss and screw, he was left with ridges that allowed the straw to bend without obstructing the flow of liquid. This made it much easier for Judith to enjoy her milkshake from a tall glass.
Joseph was supporting his expanding family (he had three more children after Judith) by working as a real estate broker. But he had been inventing since the age of 14, when he created the “pencilite”—a pencil that could write in the dark. Recognizing the potential of his bendable straw, Joseph patented it as the “drinking tube” in 1937. After struggling to sell the patent, he decided to manufacture the straws himself. In 1939, he founded the Flexible Straw Corporation, which later became the Flex-Straw Company. Judith recalls her father saying that one day the invention she had inspired would be used worldwide. And, as he predicted, millions of flexible straws are now produced annually and distributed globally.
7. Frederick Kohner
In 1933, Frederick and Franzie Kohner escaped Europe to flee Hitler’s regime. Frederick found success as a screenwriter, and the couple eventually settled in Brentwood, where their youngest daughter, Kathy, grew up as a typical California girl. In 1956, Kathy Kohner struggled with adjusting to high school, and her retreat was the Malibu beach. At that time, Kathy was captivated by two things—the excitement of surfing and a crush on a handsome surfer. Surfing was generally considered a male-dominated sport, but Kathy didn’t mind. She honed her skills and packed peanut butter sandwiches to win over the surfing crowd. The regular surfers had nicknames like “Jaw,” “Moondoggie,” and “Golden Boy.” When the surfers gave Kathy the nickname “Gidget,” short for “girl-midget,” Kathy knew she had been accepted.
Kathy’s friends didn’t know much about surfing (one even wished her luck with water skiing), so Kathy shared her enthusiasm with her dad, who was always a “good listener.” When she decided to write a book about her surfing friends, she shared her stories with Frederick, who transformed them into engaging fiction. The result was Gidget: The Little Girl with Big Ideas, told from the perspective of a teenage girl. It felt so authentic that some people believed Frederick had stolen his daughter’s diaries—though Kathy clarified that she and her dad had such a close bond that she often shared the same stories with him that were in her diaries.
Frederick also wrote the screenplay for the 1959 film, Gidget, starring Sandra Dee, which became an enormous success. The film was followed by a TV adaptation with Sally Field, several book and movie sequels, and even a comic book. By the time Kathy returned home from college in the 1960s, the Malibu scene had become an absolute sensation. Sparked by Gidget and the beach party films that followed, countless teens had flocked to the California coast. Surfers—both guys and girls—were paddling out on their boards, and surfing had evolved into a mainstream, coed sport.
6. Chiune “Sempo” Sugihara
In 1939, Chiune Sugihara became the Japanese Consul General in Lithuania. By 1940, the Nazis were sweeping across Europe, enslaving and massacring Jews. That July, Jewish refugees from Poland began appearing outside the Japanese consulate, desperately asking for visas to escape Europe before the Nazis could catch up with them. Chiune requested permission from his superiors to issue the visas, but the answer was a firm “no.”
Chiune understood the risks of issuing visas illegally—disgrace, imprisonment, and potential consequences for his family. He involved his family in the decision-making process. His oldest son, Hiroki, later recounted how his father explained that the refugees outside their gates needed help or they would be killed. “Help them,” the boy urged. As the fighting neared, the Japanese consulate prepared to close. However, before leaving, Chiune (with his family’s assistance) spent nearly every waking hour issuing over 2,100 visas for Jews and their families.
After the war, Chiune faced disgrace, forced to resign, and struggled to secure steady employment. Despite the ex-diplomat's silence about his actions in Lithuania, his efforts had saved over 6,000 lives, and many grateful Jewish survivors were searching for him. In 1985, Chiune was honored in Israel. Tragically, he passed away the following year, with little recognition for his story. His life-saving visas might have only been remembered by the survivors, but Hiroki, filled with both admiration for his father’s bravery and pride in his own support of the decision, dedicated much of his life to sharing Chiune’s story. His efforts have allowed the world to learn about and be inspired by the man called the 'Japanese Schindler.' A short film based on Chiune’s life, Visas and Virtue, won an Oscar in 1997.
5. John Holter
In 1955, John Holter became a father, but the moment was not the joyous occasion he had anticipated. His son, Casey, was born with hydrocephalus, a condition where cerebrospinal fluid that normally circulates around the brain and drains into the bloodstream becomes blocked. This accumulation could lead to brain damage and eventual death, and there was no known, effective treatment. Initially, Casey's life was sustained through a procedure where a needle was inserted into his head’s soft spot twice a day to drain the excess fluid. As Casey grew, a 'shunt' was implanted under his scalp to remove the fluid. However, the shunt posed its own challenges as its valve often malfunctioned.
John wasn’t a doctor or even a college graduate. He worked as a machinist, or a “knuckle-knicker,” as he liked to call himself. However, driven by his determination to save his son’s life, John invented a groundbreaking prototype that surpassed anything medical science had ever seen—despite it being just a flexible tube with rubber condoms attached at each end, each featuring a slit at the top. The brilliance of the design was that the slits in the condoms functioned like the nipples on baby bottles. When excessive fluid built up around the brain, the slit would open, allowing the cerebrospinal fluid to drain into the bloodstream. Once the pressure was relieved, the slit closed, preventing blood and contaminants from re-entering the fluid surrounding the brain.
Casey’s neurosurgeon approved of the valve design, but John needed a material safe enough to be used inside the human body. He discovered a “new” material called silicon and rushed to produce his device in time to save his son. Unfortunately, just days before the device was ready, Casey underwent surgery, and the inferior shunt was implanted instead. This operation resulted in brain damage, and Casey passed away from a seizure a few years later. Meanwhile, another child who received John’s device recovered. John left his job to focus on manufacturing his invention, which has saved the lives and preserved the mental health of hundreds of thousands of infants.
4. Amasa Coleman Lee
The most revered lawyer in American literature is Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird—a Pulitzer Prize–winning novel that has sold millions of copies worldwide. The film portrayal of Atticus Finch (played by Gregory Peck) holds the top spot as the number one hero on the American Film Institute’s 'Greatest Heroes & Villains' list. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is set during the Depression, a time when segregation and the inferiority of black people were widely accepted in the South. Against this backdrop, Atticus’s eloquent defense of a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman has become a cornerstone in the fight against racist attitudes in America—and has inspired thousands of idealistic students to pursue law degrees.
Harper Lee once said that Atticus Finch was a fictionalized version of her father, Amasa Coleman Lee. Like Atticus, Amasa was a respected small-town lawyer and state legislator in Alabama. He had also defended black men, only to see them sentenced to death. But Amasa was a man who stood up to racism in the Jim Crow South. Harper shared in an interview, “My father is one of the few men I’ve known who has genuine humility, and it lends him a natural dignity.” She also explained, “He believed that people are basically good, capable of improving, and as eager as the next person for a better future.” Amasa’s humility, dignity, and faith in people were qualities that Harper admired in her father, and they later became traits that defined the character of Atticus Finch.
Atticus Finch, the widowed father in fiction, is also among the most beloved single dads in literary history. Acting as both mother and father to his children, he helps them navigate their troubles and instills in them the values of fairness and tolerance in an unjust society. Similarly, Amasa was also a single father for much of his life, as Harper’s mother—who is believed to have suffered from mental illness—was often emotionally absent. Fortunately, Harper had a father who was always ready to spend time with her, whether at his office or in the evenings, reading the paper together. Their close bond ultimately led to the creation of one of America’s most iconic literary figures.
3. William Jackson Smart
In 1865, 23-year-old William Jackson Smart was a veteran of the Civil War, a farmer in Arkansas, and a newlywed. He and his wife Elizabeth raised five children, but in 1878, Elizabeth passed away, making William a single father. Years later, William married Ellen Billingsley, a widow with three children of her own, and together they raised their blended family. In 1882, with the birth of their daughter Sonora, they continued to grow their family with three more sons. (That’s a total of 12 children, if you're keeping track.) When their Arkansas farm could no longer support the large family, William moved them to a farm near Spokane, Washington to make a better living. Two more boys were born in Washington, and despite the older children growing up and leaving, William and Ellen’s home was always filled with life, making them resemble a modern-day version of Carol and Mike Brady with their bustling family.
In 1898, Ellen passed away, leaving her oldest child, 16-year-old Sonora, to witness her father’s deep sorrow as he worked hard to hold the family together. Sonora later reflected that her father became “both father and mother” to the six remaining children still living at home. In 1909, while attending a Mother’s Day sermon at a Spokane church, Sonora had an epiphany: it was time to honor fathers like her devoted dad. Sonora, known for her boundless energy and organizational skills, set her plan in motion. On June 19, 1910, Washington State celebrated its first official statewide Father’s Day. However, when it came to making the day a national holiday, Sonora faced a long road. Many, including members of Congress, weren’t keen on the idea—some viewed it as overly sentimental, while others feared it would become commercialized, with fathers being expected to fund their own gifts.
Undeterred, Sonora continued her tireless campaign. As Congress debated the issue, more and more people, encouraged by retailers, began celebrating Father’s Day on the third Sunday in June. Finally, in 1972, when Sonora was 90 years old, President Nixon declared Father’s Day a national holiday. Today, it is celebrated across the globe.
2. J.R.R. Tolkien
Many fathers tell their children bedtime stories, but Oxford professor John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was a true master of the art. His fortunate children—John, Michael, Christopher, and Priscilla—drifted into sleep to tales filled with goblins, elves, dragons, and wizards. The creation of a new character came when Tolkien was grading his students’ papers and noticed a phrase he had written on a blank exam page: “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” He had no idea what hobbits looked like or how they lived, and so those details emerged in the bedtime stories he told his children, featuring Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit who enjoyed fine meals, pipe-smoking, and a cozy hobbit hole that, though comfortable, lacked one thing—adventure.
One of Tolkien’s children’s favorite bedtime books was The Marvelous Land of the Snergs by E. A. Wyke-Smith. In this story, the Snergs were a small, resilient people from a hidden kingdom, and their characteristics inspired Tolkien’s vision of Bilbo. The tales of hobbits were also shaped by his children, especially Christopher, who was a stickler for consistency and would complain if Tolkien mistakenly changed the color of Bilbo’s front door from blue to green.
Eventually, a publisher took interest in Bilbo’s adventures, and Tolkien refined the story. The Hobbit was released in 1937 and became so successful that the publisher requested a sequel. By this time, Christopher had grown up and became his father’s assistant on the follow-up, The Lord of the Rings, a project that took over a decade to complete. Christopher helped by typing and creating maps for the book, but most importantly, he remained an eager audience for his father’s hobbit tales. Even during World War II, while Christopher served in the Royal Air Force, Tolkien sent him newly written chapters. Finally published in 1954, The Lord of the Rings went on to become the most beloved fantasy fiction of the 20th century. Tolkien’s enduring hobbit adventures cemented his legacy as one of the most influential authors in the world.
1. Eddie Koiki Mabo
Eddie Mabo was born in 1936 on Mer Island in the Torres Strait, where he was deeply immersed in the culture of the Torres Strait Islanders. He left the island at the age of 16 and, in 1959, settled with his wife Bonita in Townsville, Queensland, where they raised 10 children. Eddie valued a proper education for his kids but also believed they—and all Indigenous Australians—should learn about their own heritage. At his children’s school, their culture was ignored, and they weren’t allowed to speak their traditional language. In 1973, Eddie founded the Black Community School in Townsville, which became the first school in Australia to teach Indigenous history and culture from grades one through seven.
Eddie had another dream: to ensure that his family could live on their ancestral land on Mer Island. He was stunned to discover that he had no legal claim to his childhood home, as all Indigenous land was owned by the government. In 1982, Eddie initiated the landmark case Mabo v. Queensland, challenging the doctrine of terra nullius, which falsely claimed that Australia was uninhabited at the time of British colonization, granting the Crown ownership of all its land. Eddie was determined to overturn centuries of legal privilege, a battle that wasn’t easy. His daughter, Gail Mabo, recalls that her father taught her to “keep fighting the fight. If you give up, they win. So don’t give up.” She witnessed him fight for 10 years, gathering witnesses and evidence. Eddie continued working on his case until his death in January 1992.
Just five months after Eddie’s death, the High Court of Australia made a historic ruling, overturning the doctrine of terra nullius and affirming the land rights of Indigenous Australians. The ruling, known as “Mabo,” is widely regarded as a pivotal decision that changed the nation. For the first time, the Australian government recognized the long history, culture, and land rights of Indigenous people.
