The Ritz gave us the word for luxury via a man fired for stealing.
César Ritz ran London’s Savoy, the first British hotel lit throughout by electricity, until 1898, when the board caught him skimming wine and taking kickbacks from suppliers. That same year he opened the Ritz Paris, and his name gave the language the word ritzy. In 2020 the Ritz London sold for a reported £750 million.
The Ritz on Brandseum