James Ray Cargill was an American businessman born 9 October 1923. He is a descendent of William W. Cargill, who started with one grain elevator in post-Civil War Iowa. This company became known as Cargill, Inc.

Cargill

Cargill, Incorporated is a privately held, multinational corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Founded in 1865, it is now the largest privately held corporation in the United States in terms of revenue. If it were a public company, it would rank, as of 2011, number 13 on the Fortune 500,...

, an agribusiness

Agribusiness

In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term for the various businesses involved in food production, including farming and contract farming, seed supply, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesale and distribution, processing, marketing, and retail sales....

and trading giant that as of 2005 was the largest private company in America. Annual sales exceeded $60 billion. Cargill's son-in-law, John H. MacMillan Sr., rescued the company from debt crisis after founder's death. Cargill's family owns about 90%, and employees own the rest. Whitney is the last family CEO, but several family members remain on board. All keep relatively low profile. James died on 26 March 2006.