Aoki was the Jheri-curled restaurateur behind Benihana, the chain of Japanese steakhouse popular with kids, tourists and people who care more about flash than food. He died on July 10, 2008.

Hiroaki Aoki was born in Tokyo. A world-class wrestler in his younger years, he arrived in the States in 1960 on an athletic scholarship. When he broke the leg of a competitor in a tournament, he lost the scholarship, but instead of returning to Japan, he made ends meet selling ice cream in Harlem while he studied restaurant management at night. With some cash from his dad, in 1964 Aoki opened Benihana on West 56th Street with just four tables. Although the buzz was slow in building, when word got out about the restaurant's culinary acrobatics and pyrotechnics, Aoki had a hit on his hands. In 1968, he opened his second branch in Chicago; over the course of the '70s, Aoki took the Benihana teppanyaki concept to a dozen other U.S. cities.

Aoki resigned as Benihana's chairman and CEO in 1998 after he was charged with insider trading and pleaded guilty. (He paid $500,000 in fines and received three months' probation.) He remained a consultant to Benihana until 2006, when he split from the company entirely, although he retained a sizeable stake until his death. Aoki's baby has done well for itself: the publicly-traded Benihana Inc. controls 59 teppanyaki joints in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia. The company also controls the sushi chain Haru, which has seven locations in the New York area, and RA Sushi, which has 17 branches, mostly on the West Coast.

Aoki had been married three times. His first wife was Chizuru Kobayashi, with whom he had three kids: Grace, Kevin, and Steve. He had a lengthy affair during his first marriage with the woman who would become his second wife, Pamela Hillberger. (Indeed, it wasn't until the kids from his marriage to Chizuru and the kids from his affair with Hillberger accidentally met that the jig was up.) Aoki had three kids in total with Hillberger-Echo, Devon, and Kyle-before divorcing. His final marriage was to Keiko Ono, with whom he had no children.

He died of pneumonia in 2008. [Image via Getty]