American entrepreneur Steve Rubell was BOTD in 1943. Born in Brooklyn, New York City, he studied at Syracuse University, joining the New York City National Guard to avoid conscription to the Vietnam War. After completing his tour of duty, he worked for a brokerage firm before opening a chain of steak restaurants. In the 1970s, he embraced New York City’s emerging disco scene, opening nightclubs in Queens and Boston with his business partner Ian Schrager. In 1977, they opened Studio 54 in the old CBS television building in New York City. The club’s popularity grew quickly after the publication of a widely-circulated picture that showed actress Bianca Jagger riding into the club on a white horse. Studio 54 became one of the most famous nightclubs in the world, personifying the decadent glamour, rampant drug use and hedonistic sexuality of the disco age and becoming a hub for New York’s newly visible queer community. The club’s celebrity patrons, carefully courted and vetted by Rubell, included Andy Warhol, Liza Minnelli, Halston, Leonard Bernstein, David Bowie, Truman Capote, Gia Carangi, Cher, Roy Cohn, Divine, Tom Ford, Diane von Fürstenberg, Elton John, Grace Jones, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Deborah Harry, Lou Reed, Diana Ross, Elizabeth Taylor and Donald Trump. In 1980, Rubell and Schrager were convicted and imprisoned for tax evasion, forcing the club’s closure. On their release, they opened the Palladium nightclub, which became famous for displaying art by Warhol, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Gay and closeted for most of his adult life, Rubell contracted HIV in 1985, dying of an AIDS-related illness in 1989, aged 45. Now a legendary figure of New York nightlife, he was played by Mike Myers in the 1998 film 54.