Martin Cooper changed the world when he pioneered the portable phone. The Motorola company’s four-pound box has evolved into a global army of powerful smartphones weighing ounces.

MVM, Inc. went from guarding the U.S. spies in Iraq to hauling children away from the Mexico border on commercial airline flights.

Gus Pagonis grew up in Charleroi three-quarters of a century ago, amid smokestacks and among countless Mon Valley kids who ...