Joseph Brown Whitehead (1864–1906) was a lawyer, who, along with
Benjamin Thomas and
John Thomas Lupton
John Thomas Lupton (1862–1933) was an American lawyer, industrialist and philanthropist who along with Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead, obtained exclusive rights from Asa Candler to bottle and sell Coca-Cola.
Early life
Lupton was born n ...
, obtained exclusive rights from
Asa Candler
Asa Griggs Candler (December 30, 1851 – March 12, 1929) was an American business tycoon and politician who in 1888 purchased the Coca-Cola recipe for $238.98 from chemist John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta, Georgia. Candler founded The Coca-C ...
to bottle and sell
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...
.
Early life
Whitehead was born in Oxford, Mississippi in 1864. He was the son of Richard H. Whitehead (1836–1912), a Baptist minister in Mississippi, and Mary Amanda Conkey Whitehead (d. 1869). His younger brother was Henry Parsons Whitehead.
He attended the
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment ...
and graduated with a degree in law.
Career
In 1899, Whitehead and Thomas met with Candler. Candler gave the two exclusive rights to bottle the
soft drink. After this meeting, Lupton partnered with them and he became the president of the
Coca-Cola Bottling Company.
Personal life
In 1895, he married
Lettie Pate and then the couple moved to
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020 ...
.
Whitehead died unexpectedly in 1906 from
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
. After his death, his widow took over "her husband's share of the bottling business, as well as his real estate interests," and "established the Whitehead Holding Company and the Whitehead Realty Company to manage her assets and those of her two sons."
Legacy
Because of the philanthropy of his widow, Joseph Brown Whitehead has been the namesake for three health buildings on the
main campus of the
Georgia Institute of Technology. The original building, built in 1911, has since been renamed the Chapin Building, while the Joseph Brown Whitehead Building currently serves as the home for the campus health services.
References
External links
*
Joseph B. Whitehead Foundationofficial website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitehead, Joseph
Coca-Cola people
1864 births
1906 deaths
Mississippi lawyers
Tennessee lawyers
People from Oxford, Mississippi
People from Chattanooga, Tennessee
University of Mississippi alumni
Deaths from pneumonia in Virginia
American drink industry businesspeople
19th-century American businesspeople
19th-century American philanthropists