Andrew Ryan

"I'm Andrew Ryan, and am here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?" -Andrew Ryan

"It wasn't impossible to build Rapture in the ocean, It was impossible to build it anywhere else." -Andrew Ryan

Andrew Ryan is the founder of Rapture and owner of Ryan Industries. He is a former Soviet citizen and founded the city after World War Two, disillusioned with the current state of the world.

His name ia an anagram (or nearly an anagram) for Ayn Rand. Andrew Ryan appears to share a common history with the real world author of "Atlas Shruged" which displays much of the philosphy that fictional Andrew Ryan built rapture on. Ayn's summary of "Atlas Shrugged" seems to mirror much of Ryan's vision of humanity in Rapture:

"My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." -Ayn Rand