Henry Arthur Benning (born August 8, 1879,

Lyons (town), New York Lyons is a town in Wayne County, New York, United States. The population was 5,682 at the 2010 census. It is named after Lyon, France.

, died April 14, 1962) was the vice president and general manager of the

Amalgamated Sugar Company The Amalgamated Sugar Company is an American sugar beet-refining company run on a cooperative basis. It was founded in 1897 in Ogden, Utah, and is now located in Boise, Idaho. The company markets its sugar under the White Satin brand. Founding ...

Personal life

Benning was born in Lyons, New York on August 8, 1879. Henry and his family lived on a farm near Lyons for his early life. He graduated from Lyons High School, then attended the

Rochester Business Institute Everest College was a system of colleges in the United States, and with Wyotech, made up Zenith Education. It was until 2015 a system of for-profit colleges in the United States and the Canadian province of Ontario, owned and operated by Corin ...

to become a court reporter. Benning was about 5'6" and 160 pounds, and "had a marked inferiority complex such as that usually associated with men of small physical stature."

Stroke and death

Benning suffered a major stroke on March 8, 1956. He died on April 14, 1962.

Early career

After completing the course, Benning was employed at the American Tobacco Company as a stenographer for the sales department of the chewing tobacco division. He was a "rotten stenographer", and became a salesman. Benning was a poor salesman, because he didn't use tobacco.

Sugar beet factories

Benning worked for a Lyons beet sugar factory that was built in 1900, working during construction and for the first several production campaigns. In 1905, Benning left to work on the construction of a sugar beet factory being built in

Glendale, Arizona Glendale () is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located approximately northwest of Downtown Phoenix. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 248,325. History In the la ...

. He was a beet end foreman for the first production campaign, then left for the

Great Western Sugar Company The Western Sugar Cooperative is a grower owned American agricultural cooperative originating from the Great Western Sugar Company in 1901. History The Great Western Sugar Company was incorporated in February 1901 by Charles Boettcher and other ...

Fort Collins, Colorado Fort Collins is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Larimer County, Colorado Larimer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 359 ...

. He worked at the Fort Collins factory for several years, then became superintendent of the Great Western factory in

Sterling, Colorado Sterling is a home rule municipality and the county seat and most populous municipality of Logan County, Colorado, United States. Sterling is the principal city of the Sterling, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city population was 13,753 a ...

in 1911. He went on to the

Holly Sugar Corporation ''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

factory in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

, then to the Holly factory in

Huntington Beach, California Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 duri ...

. In 1920, Benning joined the

, serving as Idaho District Manager, Assistant General Manager, then General Superintendent by 1923. He left due to "personal differences" with E. S. Rolapp, and rejoined the General Offices of Holly Sugar in Colorado Springs, then supervised their

Torrington, Wyoming Torrington is a city in, and the county seat of, Goshen County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 6,501 at the 2010 census. It is the home of Eastern Wyoming College, and is the surrounding region's center of commercial activity. With ...

factory in 1928, "gleefully" battling with Great Western for sugar beet acreage in the Torrington area. In 1929, Benning left Holly Sugar to reorganize the American Beet Sugar Company in Denver, Colorado, becoming vice president and general manager. Immediately after joining American Beet Sugar, they acquired Amalgamated Sugar, so Benning was also vice president and general manager of Amalgamated Sugar.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benning, Henry Arthur People from Lyons, New York 1879 births 1962 deaths