Upton Sinclair, 1878-1968, was an American author and political activist. He was born in Baltimore on September 20, 1878. Between 1900 and 1905 Sinclair published five novels, but it wasn't until The Jungle, published in 1906, that he became an internationally known author. Following a tumultuous separation and divorce from his first wife, Meta Fuller, Sinclair married Mary Craig Kimbrough, and in 1914 they took up permanent residence in Southern California. The two collaborated on the Sylvia series of novels and other projects. Upton Sinclair continued his involvement in politics, running for governor of California in 1934. He also continued to write, publishing the Lanny Budd series of novels between 1940 and 1953. After the death of his third wife, Mary Elizabeth Willis, Sinclair moved to a nursing home in New Jersey to be near his son, David, and family. He died peacefully on November 25, 1968.

Mary Craig (Kimbrough) Sinclair, 1882-1961, was a writer and Upton Sinclair's second wife. She was born on February 12, 1882 in Greenwood, Mississippi. She met Upton Sinclair while he was on a lecture tour, and they developed a relationship based on their mutual love for writing. They were married on April 21, 1913. She was most famous for writing a biography of Winnie Davis, daughter of Jefferson Davis. She also wrote poetry, as well as an autobiography titled Southern Belle: A Personal Story of a Crusader's Wife (1957). She and Upton Sinclair were married until her death in 1961.

Samuel Beryl Lush, 1892-1974, was a Pennsylvania attorney and cotton merchant. He was born on September 9, 1892 in Lyakhavichy, which was then part of the Russian empire but is now located in modern Belarus. He was of Jewish ancestry, the son of Max Lush and his wife Anna Leah Harrison. His family came to the United States in 1897, settling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Temple University Law School, Lush worked as both an attorney and a businessman in the textile industry, establishing the Hercules Fiber Corporation in the early 1930s. His law career ended when he was convicted and jailed for fraud before World War II, but he achieved great success by importing and exporting cotton goods for the Lush Cotton Products Company of Philadelphia. As part of his business dealings, he traveled frequently to the Soviet Union, which attracted the attention of the FBI. Lush was also a personal friend of Upton Sinclair and a writer himself. He published several books of poetry, including Sonnets in Amaranth (1935), and his first novel, Possessor, was published in 1966. He married Rosalie Helen Griver in 1914, and they had three children: Jay, Bernice, and Marilyn. Lush died on December 20, 1974 and is buried in Chevra Bikur Cholim Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.