John Derst

John Derst (3 May 1838 – 16 July 1928) was a German businessman based in Savannah, Georgia, United States. A prominent baker, his product, Captain John Derst's Good Old-Fashioned Bread, is still produced by Savannah's Derst Baking Company, which he founded in 1867. He was also a city alderman for four years.

Life and career Derst was born in Worms, Grand Duchy of Hesse, in 1838, to Justus Derst and Catherine Krug. In 1855,

He served four years for the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Captain of the German Volunteers (in which he served alongside his good friend Cord Asendorf Sr.), he was stationed for two years at Fort McAllister, before becoming a baker at a Confederate hospital in Atlanta.

In July 1867, after starting out as a barber, he opened a small bakery, under his own name, on Savannah's Broughton Street, at the corner of Abercorn Street, across from The Marshall House.

He was elected an alderman in 1883, and served until 1887. He was also a trustee of the Lutheran Church of the Ascension from 1878.

Death and legacy Derst died in 1928, aged 90, as possibly the last Confederate veteran in Savannah. He was interred beside his parents and brothers in Savannah's Laurel Grove Cemetery. His second wife, who survived him by a decade, was buried in the city's Bonaventure Cemetery. It is not known if she remarried after becoming a widow.

Derst's bread, now known as Captain John Derst's Good Old-Fashioned Bread, is still produced by the Derst Baking Company.