2023-08-14 05:36:03
He grew up among candies, tons of chocolate and sugar, and a family empire as enigmatic as it was sweet. For years nicknamed the Chocolate Princess, when her father, Forrest Mars, died in 1999 and she and her two brothers took control of the Mars empire, she rose through the ranks and became the
queen of chocolate. Also in one of the richest women in the world. With an estimated heritage of more than 39,000 million dollars, at 83 years of age
Jacqueline Mars She is the fourth richest woman on the planet, behind only Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, Alice Walton and Julia Koch.
Mars belongs to the
third generation empire owners founded by his grandfather, Franklin Clarence Mars. After his mother taught him to cover candies with chocolate while he was overcoming a mild case of polio, at the age of 19 he began selling chocolate in the family kitchen and, later, he set up his own business with his second wife, Ethel.
After a first failed attempt, in 1920 the family settled in Minneapolis to start producing the
famous Mars chocolate bars and develop products such as the Milky Way, very popular in the United States, Snickers or M&Ms. When the founder passed away suddenly at the age of 50, his son Forrest took control of the company and decided to diversify by introducing other food products, but also pet food. The company began to grow exponentially.
Two marriages, two divorces and many horses
Despite the success of the family business,
Jacqueline and her three siblings grew up in a frugal home., where if they wanted to receive the weekly pay, they had to do the housework. For long periods of time, his parents lived in separate residences: he on a huge farm in Virginia; his wife; Audrey, in a luxurious apartment in the Watergate building (scene of the famous case that led to Nixon’s resignation) in Washington.
After graduating in AnthropologyJacqueline married David H. Badger at the age of 22, with whom she had her three children: Alexandra, Christa and Stephen. In the early 1980s, when her children were older, she joined the family business as president of the food products division and in 1999, when her father died at the age of 95, she and her two brothers took control. of the business of which he was an active part until 2016.
Despite her outstanding business profile, her private life has always been shrouded in mystery: it is known, however, that she divorced her first husband in the 1980s and
married Harold ‘Hank’ Vogel in 1986, although the marriage only lasted eight years. With him she shared her passion for racing horses.
An opera lover and owner of an organic farm in Virginia, Mars is known for being a generous donor to the Republican Party, but also for her love of
jewelry, clothing and luxury cars.
The tragic accident that has marked his last years
Her obsession with staying away from the spotlight (
there are hardly any photos of her, she has never given an interview and the social events he has attended can be counted on the fingers of one hand) was altered a decade ago, when his name made headlines after being involved in a tragic traffic accident. Mars was driving a Porsche that crashed into a vehicle with six occupants.
The accident claimed the life of an 86-year-old woman.. A few days later, the pregnant woman who was traveling in the vehicle lost the baby she was expecting.
Charged with reckless driving, Mars, who tested negative for drugs and alcohol,
He confessed that he had fallen asleep at the wheel. After pleading guilty, and paying a $2,500 fine, he issued a statement. “I can’t go back in time. I can’t change what happened. I will always live with the mourning and loss caused by this tragedy.”
Curiously,
her story is reminiscent of Alice Walton’sthe richest woman in the United States and the second female fortune on the planet, which in 1989 caused a traffic accident in which a 50-year-old woman died.
The episode was also a blow to the secrecy policy of the family business, present in more than 70 countries and with a workforce of 80,000 people. famous for
have made secrecy their corporate flag, its headquarters in Virginia is popularly known as ‘the Kremlin’ due to the family’s determination to operate under absolute discretion that in recent times has been, little by little, relaxed. Despite everything, the Mars remain one of the most enigmatic sagas in the world. Perhaps because, just like that, they can also be one of the richest.
Phrase of the day:
“The civilization and culture of the people depend on the education of women” – Carmen de Burgos, writer
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