Asa Griggs Candler

Asa Griggs Candler (December 30, 1851 – March 12, 1929) was an American business tycoon who established the The Coca-Cola Company. He also served as the 44th Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia from 1916 to 1919. Candler Field, the site of the present-day Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, was named after him, as is Candler Park in Atlanta.

Biography

Candler was born on December 30, 1851 in Villa Rica, Georgia. His father was Samuel C. Candler. He started his business career as a drugstore clerk and manufacturer of patent medicines. In 1888 he bought the formula for Coca-Cola from its inventor John Pemberton and several other shareholders for $550. The success of Coca-Cola was largely due to Candler's aggressive marketing of the product. Candler made millions of dollars from his investment, allowing him to establish the Central Bank and Trust Corp., invest in real estate, and became a major philanthropist for the Methodist Church. He gave a $1 million plus land gift to Emory University, a Methodist college, for the school to move from Oxford, Georgia, to Atlanta. This gift was influenced by Asa's younger brother, Methodist Bishop Warren Akin Candler, who became president of Emory. Candler also gave millions to what would later become Emory Hospital. The school's original library now houses classrooms and a reading room named for him, as well as endowed chairs in the school's chemistry department.