Comer Cottrell | Hair-care entrepreneur, 82

Comer Cottrell, 82, an entrepreneur and philanthropist who turned a small Los Angeles operation into a multimillion-dollar success story by catering to the hair-care needs of African Americans, died Friday of natural causes at his home in Plano, Texas.

With $600 and a broken typewriter, Mr. Cottrell opened Pro-Line Corp. in Los Angeles in 1970. It was not the first black hair-care company, but it became one of the largest with the Curly Kit, an at-home hair relaxer that made the loose Jheri curl - a style popularized by celebrities such as Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson - available at a fraction of the salon price.

With his brother, James, he turned Pro-Line into one of the most successful black-owned companies in the nation, worth $80 million when they sold it three decades later. - L.A. Times