Alvin Johnson was born in Nebraska in 1874 to Danish immigrants. He studied at the University of Nebraska and received a PhD from Columbia University in economics. In 1918, Johnson helped found the New School for Social Research in New York along with fellow academics associated with Columbia and The New Republic. He served as the New School's director from 1922 until 1945, although he continued his involvement with the institution's administration until the 1960s, when he helped save the New School from financial crisis through fund raising activities. Beginning in 1933, Johnson orchestrated the emigration of European intellectuals to the United States, forming the University in Exile. He served as editor of the Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences, the Yale Review, and The New Republic, and authored works of fiction, memoir, journalism, and non-fiction on economics. Alvin Johnson died in Nyack, New York in 1971.

Dannie N. Heineman was born in North Carolina in 1872, but moved to Europe with his German-born mother following the death of his father. He received an engineering degree from the Technical University of Hanover and worked as an electrical engineer, becoming head of the Belgium-based SOFINA (Societe Financiere de Transports et d'Enterprises Industrielles) in 1905. Heineman retired from his post at SOFINA in 1955. During the Second World War, he worked to prevent mass starvation in his adopted country of Belgium -- Heineman would later be honored with the Grand Cross of Leopold for his efforts on Belgium's behalf. Heineman and his wife, Hettie, were philanthropists and funders of scientific institutions and research facilities; they were among the donors who responded to Alvin Johnson's appeals on behalf of the New School for Social Research. Dannie Heineman died in New York in 1962.