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Seattle Times: Forrest Mars Jr., of candy empire, dies in Seattle
Originally published July 27, 2016 at 2:35 pm | Updated July 27, 2016 at 6:45 pm
Forrest Mars Jr., 84, died reportedly while traveling in Seattle. (HANDOUT/NYT)
By the time Forrest Mars Jr. retired from active management at Mars Inc. in 1999, it was an $18 billion-a-year company.
By Sam Roberts
The New York Times
Forrest Mars Jr., a billionaire scion of the reclusive family that satisfied America’s sweet tooth with the Milky Way candy bar and M&M’s and helped build Mars into the world’s largest confectionary company, died Tuesday in Seattle. He was 84.
The Wall Street Journal reported that he died in Seattle while traveling. The company, which he inherited with his brother and sister in 1973, said the cause was a heart attack.
Mr. Mars and his brother, John, were co-presidents of the company, which sold $1 billion worth of candy when their father turned over control. By the time Forrest Mars Jr. retired from active management in 1999, it was an $18 billion-a-year company selling Snickers, Uncle Ben’s Rice and Pedigree pet food. Since its acquisition in 2008 of chewing-gum manufacturer Wm. Wrigley Jr., it reports sales of $35 billion a year and has 80,000 employees worldwide.
Mr. Mars played an early role in the company’s global expansion, was group vice president for confectionary operations and became co-president with his brother in 1975.
“Forrest Jr. and his brother are the ones to be credited with making that business a diversified global empire,” said Joel Glenn Brenner, who wrote “The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars” in 1999. “They were both scarred by their father’s harsh and unforgiving manner, but they had tremendous respect for his business acumen, codified his philosophy and, through the many Mars grandchildren, made certain that the company would continue in perpetuity.”
According to the latest Forbes magazine rankings, Mr. Mars is worth about $25 billion (he owns an 82,000-acre ranch in Montana), and Mars typically ranks among the nation’s top 10 privately held companies.
Although the company is not famous for philanthropy, Mr. Mars was personally honored for his commitment to historic preservation, as a donor to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and, until a falling out with the executive director, to Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York.
Mr. Mars’ paternal grandfather, Frank, was a failed candymaker until, according to legend, his son suggested incorporating chocolate malt into his Mars-O-Bar, and the Milky Way was born. According to its website, Mars traces its beginnings to the homemade buttercream candies Frank Mars and his wife made in their kitchen in Tacoma and began selling in 1911.
Forrest Sr. was also credited with inventing M&M’s, inspired by a lentil-shaped candy he saw soldiers eating during a visit behind the lines during the Spanish Civil War. He named it for the Mars and Murrie families; William F.R. Murrie was the president of Hershey, whose chocolate Mars needed to make the candy, before the two companies became fierce rivals.
Forrest Sr. was domineering and possessed a volcanic temper — in contrast to the more benevolent candy king, Milton Hershey. Affected by years of criticism spurred by Forrest Sr.’s fear that he would raise spoiled children and by his refusal to let them eat candy, his sons forbid Mars executives from mentioning their father’s name in their presence, Brenner wrote in “The Emperors of Chocolate.”
They seem to have inherited his approach, though.
“Instead of inspiring loyalty and devotion, their manner bred paranoia and insecurity,” the author wrote.
They were so protective that they refused to allow M&M’s to be featured as E.T.’s favorite candy in Steven Spielberg’s 1982 science fiction fantasy. (Reese’s Pieces were used instead, and sales boomed.)
Forrest Edward Mars Jr. was born in Oak Park, Ill., on Aug. 16, 1931, to Forrest Mars Sr. and the former Audrey Ruth Meyer.
He earned a bachelor of science degree from Yale in 1953 and a master’s in business administration from the New York University School of Business in 1958.
He is survived by his wife, the former Jacomien Ford; four daughters, Victoria Mars, Pamela Mars-Wright, Valerie Mars and Marijke Mars; 11 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
After serving in the Army, Mr. Mars began his career in 1955 as an accountant for Price Waterhouse. He joined Mars, which was then barely a $100-million-a-year business, as a financial staff officer in 1959. After working for the company in Europe, in 1970, he moved to headquarters in McLean, Va.
In 1983, Mr. Mars and his siblings, John and Jacqueline, formalized what they called the Five Principles of Mars — quality, mutuality, responsibility, efficiency and freedom — based on an objective their father expressed: to create mutual benefits that make a difference for people and the planet through the company’s performance.
After his retirement in 1999, Mr. Mars served on the Mars board until 2006 and remained active in the Mars Foundation. Despite his reclusiveness, he made news a decade ago when he opposed development of coal and gas fields on his Montana ranch by companies that held drilling leases.
About the same time, according to The Washingtonian magazine, he was spotted in Washington National Airport by a business acquaintance who called to gain his attention: “Forrest! Forrest Mars!” Forrest Mars strode over and rebuked the man: “Don’t ever call out my name in public!”
Sam Roberts
Originally published July 27, 2016 at 2:35 pm | Updated July 27, 2016 at 6:45 pm
Forrest Mars Jr., 84, died reportedly while traveling in Seattle. (HANDOUT/NYT)
By the time Forrest Mars Jr. retired from active management at Mars Inc. in 1999, it was an $18 billion-a-year company.
By Sam Roberts
The New York Times
Forrest Mars Jr., a billionaire scion of the reclusive family that satisfied America’s sweet tooth with the Milky Way candy bar and M&M’s and helped build Mars into the world’s largest confectionary company, died Tuesday in Seattle. He was 84.
The Wall Street Journal reported that he died in Seattle while traveling. The company, which he inherited with his brother and sister in 1973, said the cause was a heart attack.
Mr. Mars and his brother, John, were co-presidents of the company, which sold $1 billion worth of candy when their father turned over control. By the time Forrest Mars Jr. retired from active management in 1999, it was an $18 billion-a-year company selling Snickers, Uncle Ben’s Rice and Pedigree pet food. Since its acquisition in 2008 of chewing-gum manufacturer Wm. Wrigley Jr., it reports sales of $35 billion a year and has 80,000 employees worldwide.
Mr. Mars played an early role in the company’s global expansion, was group vice president for confectionary operations and became co-president with his brother in 1975.
“Forrest Jr. and his brother are the ones to be credited with making that business a diversified global empire,” said Joel Glenn Brenner, who wrote “The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars” in 1999. “They were both scarred by their father’s harsh and unforgiving manner, but they had tremendous respect for his business acumen, codified his philosophy and, through the many Mars grandchildren, made certain that the company would continue in perpetuity.”
According to the latest Forbes magazine rankings, Mr. Mars is worth about $25 billion (he owns an 82,000-acre ranch in Montana), and Mars typically ranks among the nation’s top 10 privately held companies.
Although the company is not famous for philanthropy, Mr. Mars was personally honored for his commitment to historic preservation, as a donor to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and, until a falling out with the executive director, to Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York.
Mr. Mars’ paternal grandfather, Frank, was a failed candymaker until, according to legend, his son suggested incorporating chocolate malt into his Mars-O-Bar, and the Milky Way was born. According to its website, Mars traces its beginnings to the homemade buttercream candies Frank Mars and his wife made in their kitchen in Tacoma and began selling in 1911.
Forrest Sr. was also credited with inventing M&M’s, inspired by a lentil-shaped candy he saw soldiers eating during a visit behind the lines during the Spanish Civil War. He named it for the Mars and Murrie families; William F.R. Murrie was the president of Hershey, whose chocolate Mars needed to make the candy, before the two companies became fierce rivals.
Forrest Sr. was domineering and possessed a volcanic temper — in contrast to the more benevolent candy king, Milton Hershey. Affected by years of criticism spurred by Forrest Sr.’s fear that he would raise spoiled children and by his refusal to let them eat candy, his sons forbid Mars executives from mentioning their father’s name in their presence, Brenner wrote in “The Emperors of Chocolate.”
They seem to have inherited his approach, though.
“Instead of inspiring loyalty and devotion, their manner bred paranoia and insecurity,” the author wrote.
They were so protective that they refused to allow M&M’s to be featured as E.T.’s favorite candy in Steven Spielberg’s 1982 science fiction fantasy. (Reese’s Pieces were used instead, and sales boomed.)
Forrest Edward Mars Jr. was born in Oak Park, Ill., on Aug. 16, 1931, to Forrest Mars Sr. and the former Audrey Ruth Meyer.
He earned a bachelor of science degree from Yale in 1953 and a master’s in business administration from the New York University School of Business in 1958.
He is survived by his wife, the former Jacomien Ford; four daughters, Victoria Mars, Pamela Mars-Wright, Valerie Mars and Marijke Mars; 11 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
After serving in the Army, Mr. Mars began his career in 1955 as an accountant for Price Waterhouse. He joined Mars, which was then barely a $100-million-a-year business, as a financial staff officer in 1959. After working for the company in Europe, in 1970, he moved to headquarters in McLean, Va.
In 1983, Mr. Mars and his siblings, John and Jacqueline, formalized what they called the Five Principles of Mars — quality, mutuality, responsibility, efficiency and freedom — based on an objective their father expressed: to create mutual benefits that make a difference for people and the planet through the company’s performance.
After his retirement in 1999, Mr. Mars served on the Mars board until 2006 and remained active in the Mars Foundation. Despite his reclusiveness, he made news a decade ago when he opposed development of coal and gas fields on his Montana ranch by companies that held drilling leases.
About the same time, according to The Washingtonian magazine, he was spotted in Washington National Airport by a business acquaintance who called to gain his attention: “Forrest! Forrest Mars!” Forrest Mars strode over and rebuked the man: “Don’t ever call out my name in public!”
Sam Roberts