Howard Candler, born March 16, 1851 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the oldest son of his father, Asa Griggs Candler. In 1917, Howard Candler gained complete control of The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia...

as a Christmas present from his father. His younger siblings took seats of the board while he ran the operations. He was what you could call "the brains of the operation." Howard only ran the business for two years, and then he sold the company to a group of investors led by Ernest Woodruff.