Franklin Clarence Mars

Franklin Clarence Mars (; September 24, 1883 – April 8, 1934) was an American business magnate who founded the food company Mars Inc., which mostly makes chocolate candy. Mars' son Forrest Mars developed M&M's and the Mars bar and founded the Ethel M Chocolate Factory.

Family

Mars was born on September 24, 1883, in Walden Township, Pope County, Minnesota. He learned how to hand-dip chocolate candy as a child from his mother Alva, who entertained him while he had a mild case of polio. He began to sell molasses chips at age 19. Mars attended high school at the Breck School, a boarding school then located in Wilder, Minnesota.

Mars and Ethel G. Kissack (1882–1980),

In 1920, they moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Mars founded Mar-O-Bar Co. and began to manufacture chocolate candy bars. the Milky Way, which became the best-selling candy bar. at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Ownership of the family business passed to his son Forrest.

Horse racing

In the late 1920s, in Pulaski, Tennessee, Mars bought a number of local farms and constructed a large estate called Milky Way Farm. During its construction, Mars employed more than 935 men from Giles County to build a clubhouse, more than 30 barns, and a horse racing track. After Milky Way Farm was sold,