Forrest Edward Mars Sr. (March 21, 1904 – July 1, 1999) was an American

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

businessman and the driving force of the Mars candy empire. He is best known for introducing

Milky Way The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye ...

(1924) and Mars (1932) chocolate candy bars, and M&M's (1941) chocolate candy, as well as orchestrating the launch of

Uncle Ben's Rice Ben's Original, formerly called Uncle Ben's, is an American brand of parboiled rice and other related food products that was introduced by Converted Rice Inc., which is now owned by Mars, Inc. Its headquarters are in Denver Harbor, Houston, Texa ...

. He was the son of candy company

Mars, Inc. Mars, Incorporated is an American multinational manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products and a provider of animal care services, with US$40 billion in annual sales in 2021. Mars was ranked as the fourth-largest private ...

founder

Frank C. Mars Franklin Clarence Mars (; September 24, 1883 – April 8, 1935) was an American business magnate who founded the food company Mars, Incorporated, which mostly makes chocolate candy. Mars' son Forrest Mars Sr., Forrest Edward Mars developed M& ...

and his first wife Ethel G. Mars (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Kissack).

Early life and career

Mars was born in Wadena, Minnesota, and raised by his maternal grandparents in Saskatchewan, Canada, after his parents' divorce when he was just a child. He rarely saw his father. After high school, he entered the University of California, Berkeley, and later transferred to Yale University, where he completed a degree in industrial engineering in 1928. As an adult, Forrest Mars reunited with his father at Mars, Inc. However, the pair ran into a disagreement when Forrest wanted to expand abroad while his father did not. For a few years he worked at the new plant in Chicago and supervised the development of the Snickers and 3 Musketeers bars. Frances Herdlinger, a newly hired chemist at the Chicago lab of Mars Inc, remembered "Forrest Mars would turn up often with something new for us to try." Mars then took a buyout from his father and moved to England where he created the

Mars bar Mars, commonly known as Mars bar, is the name of two varieties of chocolate bar produced by Mars, Incorporated. It was first manufactured in 1932 in Slough, England by Forrest Mars, Sr. The bar consists of caramel and nougat coated with mi ...

and Maltesers while estranged from his father in 1933. In Europe, Mars briefly worked for Nestlé and the Tobler company. In 1934, he bought a British company, Chappel Bros, specialized in

canned meat Potted meat is a form of traditional food preservation in which hot cooked meat is placed in a pot, tightly packed to exclude air, and then covered with hot fat. As the fat cools, it hardens and forms an airtight seal, preventing some spoilage by ...

for dogs. Due to the lack of competition, Forrest took control of this market as he launched and marketed Chappie's canned food. After he returned to the United States, Mars started his own food business, Food Products Manufacturing, where he established the

line and a pet food business,

Pedigree Pedigree may refer to: Breeding * Pedigree chart, a document to record ancestry, used by genealogists in study of human family lines, and in selective breeding of other animals ** Pedigree, a human genealogy (ancestry chart) ** Pedigree (animal ...

. In partnership later with Bruce Murrie, Mars developed M&M's, the chocolate candy covered in a crunchy shell which "melts in your mouth, not in your hands," in 1940. They were possibly modeled after Smarties. Peanut M&M's were introduced in 1954 although Forrest had been allergic to peanuts his entire life. Murrie later left the business. Following the death of his father, Forrest Mars took over the family business, Mars, Inc, merging it with his own company in 1964. He was married to Audrey Ruth Meyer (b. May 25, 1910, in Chicago, d. June 15, 1989, in Washington, D.C.), and they had three children – Forrest Jr., John, and

Jacqueline Jacqueline may refer to: People * Jacqueline (given name), including a list of people with the name * Jacqueline Moore (born 1964), ring name "Jacqueline", American professional wrestler Arts and entertainment * ''Jacqueline'' (1923 film), ...

. Mars retired from Mars, Inc., in 1973, turning the company over to his children. In 1980, retired and living in

Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the second largest city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with an estimated population of 320,189 in 2019. The city is part of the Las Vegas Vall ...

, he founded

Ethel M Chocolates The Ethel M Chocolate Factory is a chocolate factory in Henderson, Nevada, founded by Forrest Mars Sr. It produces gourmet chocolate for all of the Ethel M and Ethel's brand chocolates. The factory was named after the mother of Forrest Mars Sr ...

, named after his mother. Ethel M was purchased by Mars, Inc. in 1988. Mars died at age 95 on July 1, 1999, in Miami, Florida, having amassed a fortune of $4 billion. '' Forbes'' magazine ranked him as the 30th richest

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

(Forrest Jr. and John were 29th and 31st, respectively) and as the 103rd wealthiest person in the world. He left the business jointly to his three children. Mars was inducted into the

Junior Achievement JA (Junior Achievement) Worldwide is a global non-profit youth organization founded in 1919 by Horace A. Moses, Theodore Vail, and Winthrop M. Crane. JA works with local businesses, schools, and organizations to deliver experiential learning ...

U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1984.

References

External links

*Profile in Fortune Magazine, published in 1967, republished March 31, 2013

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mars, Forrest Sr. 1904 births 1999 deaths American food company founders Businesspeople from Saskatchewan Businesspeople in confectionery Mars family People from Wadena, Minnesota Yale University alumni Burials at Lakewood Cemetery 20th-century American businesspeople Businesspeople from Minnesota 20th-century American Episcopalians

Early life and career

See also

References

Further reading

External links