Benjamin Newton Duke was a U.S. tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

, textile

Textile

A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...

, energy

Energy

In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...

 industrialist and philanthropist

Philanthropist

A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...

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He was the son of Washington Duke

Washington Duke

George Washington Duke was an American tobacco industrialist and philanthropist.-Biography:Duke was born in Orange County, North Carolina , to Taylor Duke and Dicey Jones...

 and half-brother to Brodie Leonidas Duke (1846–1919) and full brother to James Buchanan Duke

James Buchanan Duke

James Buchanan Duke was a U.S. tobacco and electric power industrialist best known for his involvement with Duke University.-Personal life:...

 (1856–1925).

On February 21, 1875, Benjamin Duke married Sarah Pearson Angier with whom he had a daughter, Mary Lillian Duke

Mary Duke Biddle

Mary Lillian Duke Biddle , was an American philanthropist.-Biography:She was born on November 16, 1887 in Durham, North Carolina as Mary Lillian Duke to Benjamin Newton Duke. She attended Durham's Trinity College, the institutional predecessor of Duke University, which was named in honor of her...

, and a son, Angier Buchanan Duke

Angier Buchanan Duke

Angier Buchanan Duke was a Trustee of Duke University from 1914-1923, as well as vice president and president of the Alumni Association.-Biography:...

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He entered his father's tobacco business and in 1890, became vice-president of the American Tobacco Company

American Tobacco Company

The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company...

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