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W.K. Kellogg Foundation “I’ll Invest My Money in People” A biographical sketch of the Founder of the Kellogg Company and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

“I’ll Invest My Money in People”

Published by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Battle Creek, Michigan Tenth Edition, February 2002

Revised and reprinted 2000,1998, 1993, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1987, 1984. First edition published 1979.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 90-063691 Printed in the United States of America Table of Contents

Part 1 – W.K. Kellogg’s House

Van Buren Street Residence 5

Part 2 – The Philanthropist

“I’ll Invest My Money In People” 29

Beginnings 30

The Sanitarium Years 45

The Executive 48

Success and Tragedy 51

The Shy Benefactor 63

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation 70

A home is not a mere transient shelter. Its essence lies in its permanence, in its capacity for accretion and solidification, in its quality of representing, in all its details, the personalities of the people who live in it.

H.L. Mencken, 1929

Part 1 W.K. Kellogg’s House

Van Buren Street Residence

W.K. Kellogg. The man’s name, spoken or written, almost a half-century after his death, is associated with entrepreneurship, creativity, vision, and humanitarianism. Those are big words. However appropriate they may be,

5 they probably would have been shunned by Mr. Kellogg—the developer of a worldwide industry and an international foundation that is dedicated to helping people to solve societal problems. He shied from any hint of praise for himself. With a candor that matched his devotion to action and outcomes, he was known to turn aside compliments, flattery, or acclaim. Elsie Hoatson Elbon, W.K.’s nurse for many years dur- ing his later , commented: “I never heard him brag about the many things he had done for oth- ers. Not ever.” Tributes made him uncomfort- able, as proved by his own remarks. In 1931, for instance, he wrote in a business memo: I object seriously to being referred to as the Cereal King (by) the editor of (a national newspaper)…He used the word philan- thropy several times. I asked him to cut it out and to take out the apple sauce. That same year he advised his grandson: In conversation with people forget the word “I.” Keep your feet on the earth and your head up, but not too high in the sky. Be humble. For a man of W.K.’s wealth, his residence at 256 West Van Buren was anything but grand or showy. It had 4500 square feet of living space (counting the basement), making it no larger than most of the homes in the immediate area. It was a two-story structure, again, like most of its neighbors. But it differed from other nearby houses because of its simple design and stucco exterior. This contrasted with the prevailing popular, ornate, gothic frame styles.

6 W.K.’s house, like the man, was free of trap- pings, even restrained. Its personality matched well the simpler tastes and preferences of its owner. It had an aura of stability and durability about it that caught and held the eye and the interest of any passerby who took the time to give it more than a random glance.

From about 1911 until 1990, the house on West Van Buren stood directly across the street from McCamly Park. Between 1918 and 1924 it was the home for Mr. Kellogg and his second wife, Dr. Carrie Staines. There they occasionally entertained visitors, frequently hosted family gatherings that brought three generations of Kelloggs together around the dinner table or the Christmas tree, and on sultry summer evenings sat on the open front porch of the house and drank ice-cooled lemonade and listened to the music that floated across to them from the band concerts in the park.

The house sat just east of the nearby Kellogg Hotel (later named the Hart Hotel) and only a short walk northwest to the Kellogg Inn on Champion Street, where the early offices of the Foundation would one day be situated. Many of the city’s streets were only hard packed ground, looking like well-traveled country roads, as did Van Buren in front of the Kellogg house in its beginning years. Horse-drawn buggies and wag- ons could be heard at all hours of the day, clack- ing along, driven by husky fellows who easily delivered 50-pound blocks of dripping ice to homes and businesses along their routes, and white-jacketed men carrying rattling wire cases of glass bottles filled with cream and fresh , haulers and movers of every sort going about their work. Added in was the regular clanging

7 racket of the electric streetcar as it moved up Washington past the Sanitarium to Ann Avenue, then across to Wood and finally, retracing its own tracks, rumbled down Washington to Main Street on its trip back toward the hub of town. There were few automobiles on the roads, though the number was growing noticeably. Soon Van Buren boasted an impressive, paved surface of macadam. The end result was a cacophony of noise and activity in a busy, thriv- ing Battle Creek. Viewing it from the Kellogg front porch was to watch a living picture of pros- perity, vitality, and progress. When Mr. Kellogg walked in his backyard and looked up beyond a tall, wood frame house situated on Champion Street, he could see the sprawling, six-story stretching two city blocks into the distance. Again and again, that view surely recalled for him the two and a half decades of 14-hour work days, myriad duties, and low pay he had endured at the “San,” conditions that unques- tionably left profound impressions. A former vice president of the Kellogg Foundation, Leonard White, recalls: “All through his life, including the 25 years he worked for Dr. Kellogg at the Sanitarium, W.K. was generous. He saw to it that people who needed extra help received it, that bills were forgiven. All during the Depression he saw to it that his employees had coal for their stoves when they needed it.” Russell G. Mawby, former chief executive officer of the Kellogg Foundation and chairman of its board, pointed out that W.K. believed “sometimes charity such as food, clothing, and shelter is necessary. But he felt that usually the

8 John L. Kellogg, Jr. and II, grandsons of W.K. Kellogg, shown in the driveway of the Van Buren Street residence. They are wear- ing uniforms of the Citizens Military Training Corps (the high school equivalent of ROTC). The year is approximately 1926.

9 s other son. ’ After W.K. Kellogg After W.K. The time was 1926. moved to the Kellogg Inn, John L. Kellogg, and his mother, Jr., (both shown here) lived in the Van Buren house, as did Keith Kellogg II, Will Hanna

10 s West ’ W.K. Kellogg W.K. Van Buren Street resi- Van dence shown here near the Battle Creek Sanitarium.

11 Preparation to move the 100-ton house began in early March 1990.

12 s ’ s short ’ On the morning of journey through down- town. Kellogg March 24, W.K. house began it

13 Power lines and telephone lines were lowered ahead of the house as it moved past familiar landmarks along city streets, restricted from normal traffic usage. The utility lines were then restored in its wake.

14 15 Nearly four hours the house relo- later, cated in the downtown area, the steel girders are removed

16 Throughout the summer of 1990, con- struction continued around the house as the ground was cleared for its perma- nent location.

17 By late September, exterior work was nearing com- pletion. The fieldstone wall, which edges the city’s Linear Park path, was in place.

18 The now-classic decor of the early 1920s is recre- ated in the living room. A grand piano and Oriental rug, similar to those of Mr. Kellogg, are accented by a graceful statuette of a young woman. The stat- uette actually was owned by Mr. Kellogg.

19 Restored to its original beauty, the dining room reflects its own historic time. The tall breakfront belonged to Mr. Kellogg.

20 This elegant, recreated bedroom now holds some of Mr. Kellogg’s possessions. The armchair beside the desk, the elephant sculpture on the mantle, and the paintings all were his. Other fur- nishings are authentic to the period.

21 Viewed from the Foundation’s headquarters site in October 1990, north across the Battle Creek River, the house blends serenely with its surroundings.

22 23 The front porch and sunroom of the Kellogg House today look out across a low fieldstone wall toward the nearby river in downtown Battle Creek.

24 most good could be done by helping people to help themselves. The main thing is to give them the opportunity to do that which is important to them, rather than doing it for them or telling them what they ought to do.” Mawby said, “That belief became the purpose of the Foundation Mr. Kellogg created and, like the Van Buren Street house, it has stood the test of time.” Norman Williamson, Jr., grandson of W.K. Kellogg, described the house as he remembered it: On the front was an uncovered porch where one could sit in good weather .…Immediately behind the porch was a sunroom that reached to the second story. The entry from the street was directly into the living room. It was large, for it extend- ed the entire width of the house with win- dows on both the east and west and a sunroom to the south. There was a Lalique glass replica of a black cat that served as a doorstop. There also was a ceramic Boston terrier with a jewelled collar, and in the 1920s W.K. acquired a player piano. He recalled a passageway from the living room to the dining room. He said that enroute you passed a bathroom on the left and a stairway to the basement on the right. The dining room was commodious, like the living room, extend- ing the entire width of the house. It contained a dining table with chairs to seat a dozen or more people. Service from the kitchen was summoned by a floor button at W.K.’s place. Williamson said the kitchen had a refrigerator “which produced the miracle of ice cubes. At home we had only the customary icebox that had

25 to be ‘recharged’ regularly by the iceman.” And, for him, the basement was the “most fascinating to all of us children” because it had a small bil- liard table which also “converted into a sofa to provide extra seating space for such exciting occa- sions as Christmas Eve gift exchanging.” The maid occupied the apartment over the garage; the chauffeur lived in W.K.’s former house nearby on Champion Street. After W.K. completed his Kellogg apartments (the Inn), he moved there in 1924 but, Williamson said, he vacillated between his sixth floor suite and his former residence. Eventually, the house was occupied for several years by Hanna Kellogg (first wife of W.K.’s son, John) and her two sons, John, Jr., and Keith. The house became the property of the Kellogg Foundation in 1987. It had been vacant for 12 years, its empty rooms providing a refuge from the weather for adventurous birds that found their way down the fireplace chimney, its dark windows gaz- ing blankly out at a changing neighborhood. On March 24, 1990, the former home of W.K. Kellogg was moved from its location on West Van Buren Street to the downtown site of the Kellogg Foundation’s corporate headquarters. The renovated house provides a base for the Foundation’s Expert-In-Residence program. This program brings acknowledged authorities to Battle Creek on a short-term basis to conduct seminars and workshops in areas of interest to the Foundation’s programming fields. With its understated charm and elegant practicality care- fully restored, the Kellogg House continues to serve in the quiet tradition of its original owner.

26 W.K.’s longtime friend and physician, Doctor George Slagle, said, “Will Keith Kellogg was a great man. What he did for the city of Battle Creek you can read all over town—the Ann J. Kellogg school and so very much more. He was a ‘go-getter.’ He was a dynamo hidden beneath a rather calm exterior. He was a tremendous devel- oper and he made Battle Creek what it is.”

27 28 Part 2 The Philanthropist

“I’ll Invest My Money In People”

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation exists because of the interweavings of fate. Tenets of visionary religion, the flux of business, the rivalry between strong-willed brothers, the success of a health spa and the unexpected discovery of a flake cereal— these are what shaped this story. The focus, however, still is on the singular W.K. Kellogg himself. Born in the 19th century, he was one of the 20th century’s great movers of ideas and shakers of tradition—men like Andrew Carnegie, , Bertrand Russell, J.C. Penney, Bernard Shaw, and Charles Stewart Mott, who had the driving force and will for several lives, and who entered their later years at the peak of their powers. While possessing extraordinary business acumen, Kellogg was painfully shy. Yet he had faith in the public’s ability to know a good prod- uct when they see it.

29 Beginnings “I Never Learned to Play”

The first of the Kellogg family to migrate to America was Joseph Kellogg—born in 1626 to a long line of Scottish and English Kelloggs—who settled in Hadley, Massachusetts, where the Kellogg family prospered for nearly two cen- turies. One of Joseph’s descendants, John Preston Kellogg, left Hadley in 1834 with his wife, Mary Ann, and two sons to move to Flint, Michigan. John Preston Kellogg was a devout Christian but was well aware of human needs on the earth- ly plane. He was much disillusioned with medi- cine as it was practiced in that primitive envi- ronment. When Mary Ann died of tuberculosis, John sought something firm in which to believe. He became an abolitionist and often sheltered slaves fleeing to Canada. It was not enough. Kellogg married Ann Janette Stanley and in 1849 their two-year-old Emma Frances suc- cumbed to a misdiagnosed case of lung inflam- mation. Further disgusted with poor medical ser- vices, Kellogg found solace in the Seventh-Day Adventist faith, which considered personal health of prime importance. Smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol and eating meat were taboo. When the Adventists set up a publishing office in Battle Creek, Michigan, John moved his fami- ly there and established a broom factory. The Kellogg family grew as the Adventist faith mushroomed in Battle Creek. In 1866 the Adventists set up the Western Health Reform

30 Institute in the city, where Merritt G. Kellogg— the family’s firstborn—was to become a physi- cian. Another physician son, , was destined to run this same institu- tion as the Battle Creek Sanitarium and shape it into one of the then most famous health spas in the world. However, the name of Will Keith Kellogg, born April 7, 1860, was to become far more familiar to millions of the world’s early-morning hungry. I was my father’s seventh son born on the seventh day of the week and the seventh day of the month. My father was a sev- enth child and the name ‘Kellogg’ has seven letters. It was W.K. Kellogg’s lifelong whim to stay in rooms on the seventh floor of hotels and with room numbers ending in seven. But he wasn’t a joking man normally. To look at Will Kellogg’s poker face in photographs of his youth, one would conclude correctly that he was serious- minded. Enlisted into the broom trade early, W.K. Kellogg was a salesman with his own territory by the age of 14, at which time he started paying his way in the world. Hard work, long hours and the Adventist regimen—and certainly the strict upbringing characteristic of pioneer family life— molded a young man whose outlook was toward self-betterment. “As a boy, I never learned to play,” he was to say, and he often regretted his inability to smile or laugh easily. He might chuckle, but you were lucky to catch him at it. After all, it was a tough

31 life. Illnesses and death plagued the Kellogg fam- ily. Three other children died, and Will barely survived malaria. He also had little schooling. But Will did read extensively—even after a diffi- cult : When I was a boy in school, the teacher thought I was dim-witted because I had difficul- ty reading what was on the blackboard. I was 20 years old before I myself found out what was the matter: I was nearsighted. A proper medical examination would have settled that the day I entered school. Since then, I have often thought of what science can do for underprivileged chil- dren if they can be taken in hand at the proper time. Seeking experience in the broom trade, teenaged Will went to Texas, but city life there repelled him. Open sewers alongside Dallas’ streets disgusted him, for his concern about health—like his family’s—was ever zealous. He decided he had learned enough in the Texas school of hard knocks, and headed home. Will knew what he needed to know, and when—and he wouldn’t waste time while learning it. In 1880, impatient Will enrolled in a business course and completed in four months what took other students an academic year to finish. That same year he married Ella Osborn Davis, and as a responsible husband heeded his brother John’s offer of a job at the Battle Creek Sanitarium.

32 The house where W.K. Kellogg was born on April 7, 1860.

Early day Battle Creek, Michigan. W.K. Kellogg was born into a large family, and he started paying his own way in the world early. At age 14, Kellogg was a successful broom salesman with his own territory.

“Afraid I will always be a poor man,” Kellogg said of his 26-year career as bookkeeper, cashier, and general utility man for the Battle Creek Sanitarium. He was 40 when this photograph was taken and still employed at the San. He married his first wife, the former Ella “Puss” Davis, the same year he accepted his brother John’s offer of a job at the Battle Creek Sanitarium.

34 At the height of its popular- ity, the Battle Creek Sanitarium was a sprawling, multi-build- ing facility that stretched 15 stories high, and treated 5,000 patients annually. The San promoted the Adventist regi- men of and the use of , as well as the latest discoveries in diag- nostic medicine. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, an eminent physician, was the employer of his younger broth- er for a quarter-century at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. “The Doctor” was frequently seen pedaling his bike while younger brother W.K. Kellogg jogged alongside to discuss forthcom- ing activities of the Sanitarium.

35 Working at night in the San kitchen, Will Kellogg boiled to help the Doctor search for a digestible substitute for bread. One day in 1894, after a batch of boiled wheat accidentally was left to stand, they tried again. Unknowingly, they had “tempered” the wheat by letting it stand. The compressed wheat was flaked off rollers with blades devised by Will. Thus was modern day cereal created.

This small building, on Brook Street behind the San, was the first laboratory to produce the cereal for San guests in 1896. A key to W.K. Kellogg’s success in the break- fast cereal industry was the emphasis he placed on advertising. Even when Wall Street collapsed in 1929 and brokers were ledge-leap- ing, Kellogg doubled his advertising budget. Reproduced above is the first “Sweetheart” advertisement which appeared in 1907.

37 Between 1902 and 1906, more than forty com- panies were organized in Battle Creek to produce cereal foods and beverages. Intense competition in the following decades resulted in few surviving. One of the most successful was W.K. Kellogg’s. This magazine cartoon illustrated how an effi- ciency engineer discovered that printing would save Mr. Kellogg from having to sign his name on each of the boxes. (Reproduced by permission. Copyright 1936 by The New Yorker Magazine, Inc.)

38 Kellogg refused to be a desk man exclusively and toured the factory at least several times each week. His mechanical curiosity often impelled him to test new factory equipment, as he is doing here in a power plant of the factory.

39

Six years after the death of his first wife, W.K. Kellogg married Dr. Carrie Staines of the Battle Creek Sanitarium medical staff in 1918.

The company workers were part of W.K. Kellogg’s “family,” and he lavished attention on them, includ- ing the provision of medical and dental clinics at the plant as well as a nursery for children of female work- ers. Here, Mr. Kellogg, on the eve of a seasonal trip to California, says goodbye to two veteran employees.

40 W.K. Kellogg hoped that members of his family would take up the business, but that story is laced with personality clashes and tragedy. He is shown here with his two sons and their children. In the back row are Will Keith II (son of John L.), Karl Kellogg and John L. Kellogg. In the front row are Will Lewis and Karl Landram (both sons of Karl) and John, Jr. (son of John L.). Kellogg’s eldest son, Karl, was a physician while John L. was a successful businessman and for a time president of the Kellogg Company.

This 1923 picture shows W.K. Kellogg with his daughter Beth (Mrs. Norman Williamson), and her children — John, Norman, Jr., Elizabeth Ann, Kenneth and Eleanor Jane. 42 W.K. Kellogg was a serious-minded person who rarely relaxed completely. Almost all photographs depict him scrupulously dressed in a business suit. He enjoyed travel and horticulture, however, and these rare informal shots show him at his Gull Lake home in the late 1920s, a time when his company was prospering and expanding its operations inter- nationally.

43 Will Kellogg was one of the first American entre- preneurs to recognize the potential of international markets. He expanded company operations to Canada and Australia in 1924 and England in 1938. Today, the Kellogg Company has plants in numerous coun- tries around the world. Pictured above is the Kellogg Company Corporate Headquarters in Battle Creek.

44 The Sanitarium Years “I Will Always Be a Poor Man”

Will Kellogg was a slim, short man—though he was much taller than his diminutive doctor brother. At the San, Will performed duties ranging from managerial to janitorial as an assistant for the man even Will came to call “The Doctor.” Will was bookkeeper, cashier, packing and shipping clerk, errand boy and general utility man. Dr. John Kellogg, now physician-in-chief, passed anything unrelated to the Sanitarium’s medical services to his younger brother, main- taining his older-brother relationship. It wasn’t the most pleasant of circumstances or the most ideal of jobs for Will, but the arrival of his first son, Karl Hugh, in 1881 and John Leonard in 1883 certainly prompted him to keep his post. Other children followed: Irvin Hadley who died in infancy, William Keith, Jr., who died at the age of four years, and the Kelloggs’ only daughter, Elizabeth Ann, born in 1888. “I feel kind of blue,” he told his diary about this time. “Am afraid that I will always be a poor man the way things look now.” The San promoted the Adventist regimen, along with many of Dr. Kellogg’s innovative if unconventional remedies: water cures, mineral baths, vegetarianism, fresh air and sunshine. John Harvey Kellogg drove himself hard, and pushed his brother along with him. Among Dr. Kellogg’s enterprises were a health food company which manufactured menu items for the San, and the Good Health Publishing Company, which printed the Doctor’s books.

45 Will was in charge of shipping books across the country; it was just another duty in a career which occasionally found him working 120 hours a week. Will became big on details thanks to his prodigious, near-photographic memory. He became a careful observer and a shrewd bar- gainer, a formidable but self-critical business- man. I was so overloaded with work that I am conscious that very little, if any of it, was performed satisfactorily. Will often helped a poor person or needy child get medical care at the San, typically pay- ing for the services out of his own pocket. He was a man with almost limitless energy. Insomnia pestered him, so he spent his nights scribbling notes and ideas for the next day. Sleeplessly cramming notes together became a habit that lasted much of his life. Very often the ideas were worthy ones. The relationship between the Kellogg broth- ers was one of fluctuating conflict and care. The Doctor’s dominant personality was irresistibly pressuring. Will was quiet, reserved, withdrawn, somber, an introvert. John was dramatic, flam- boyant, at ease with himself and others, an exhi- bitionist. It was inevitable, perhaps, that they should clash, and it is strange to note that, had their paths not diverged, a great deal of good might never have been accomplished. Will and John got along well enough to work together on many projects, including the lengthy experimentation and research needed in devel- oping San health foods. After all, they had much

46 in common; as one San physician put it, the brothers “were like two fellows trying to climb up the same ladder at the same time.” To some extent they cooperated and helped each other.

In 1894, after the day’s work was done, Will had the task of conducting a series of experi- ments in the San kitchen, boiling wheat to help the Doctor in his search for a digestible substi- tute for bread. Working with a set of rollers to grind , one of the San’s other original products, the two brothers worked daily without success to concoct an edible substance.

One day, after a batch of boiled wheat acci- dentally was left to stand, they tried again. Unknowingly, they had “tempered” the wheat by letting it stand—a process now highly refined but unfamiliar at the time. The compressed wheat was flaked off the rollers with blades devised by Will, and the first cereal flakes were created.

Will convinced Dr. Kellogg not to grind up the flakes further, but to serve them as they were, whole. At first the new food was supplied only to San patients but as orders came in from former visitors “Granose” was packaged and sold by the San food company. The Doctor, never much con- cerned with business matters, left to his brother the distribution of the new wheat-flake product.

Dr. Kellogg and others did not seem to believe at the time that the business was susceptible of being developed…I con- fess at the time I little realized the extent to which the food business might develop in Battle Creek.

47 Despite secrecy, the process for making flaked leaked out. Between 1900 and 1905, dozens of wheat-flake companies sprang up—most in Battle Creek, for thanks to the San the city’s name had become synonymous with health. The Kelloggs did not want to lose their hold in the market. Their work increasing, the brothers had so little time that they combined duties. Often the Doctor bicycled from his house to the San while Will jogged beside him, swap- ping notes for the business day.

The two still were seldom eye-to-eye. Will constructed a new factory for manufacturing San foods, and when it was completed at a cost of $50,000, the Doctor claimed he had never autho- rized the outlay. He told Will to pay for the fac- tory himself. It was a severe blow, and eventual- ly Will paid the debt. But disagreements contin- ued to mount and finally in August 1901, Will emptied his desk, told the Doctor he could no longer work for him and left the San’s employ. He remained with the Sanitas Food company for a few more years since it did not involve any cor- porate connection with his brother.

The Executive “I Was Green”

Battle Creek was in the middle of a boom. Forty-two companies sprang up to make cereal foods and drinks. Only a few would

48 survive, and Will Kellogg had the instinct and business sense to join the winners—for he saw the potential of the corn flake.

Before the turn of the century, Will already had experimented with that . It took lengthy experimentation before the right combi- nation of ingredients and the most efficient man- ufacturing equipment were found. In 1906, W.K. Kellogg launched his own new company, and when Kellogg’s® Corn Flakes became an immedi- ate breakfast success, it was a surprisingly cre- ative achievement in the life of a man already 46 years old.

“Kellogg Company” was not to be the corpo- ration’s official name until 1925, but already the cereal-eating world was familiar with the red- inked words on Sanitas packages: “Beware of imitations. None genuine without this signature. W.K. Kellogg.” Now those words appeared on packages produced in Will’s own factory, made possible by selling stock through a former Sanitarium patient who trusted Will Kellogg.

“I was green when I started the business,” Will was to confess, but he taught the jobbers a thing or two about promotion, advertising and word of mouth. While promoting Sanitas foods, Kellogg had delivered samples door to door. He touted his new Toasted Corn Flakes similarly, determined to outdo the opportunists who had rushed into Battle Creek on his coattails. It was- n’t just a money-making venture, as one of Kellogg’s long-time associates recalled: “Mr. Kellogg believed that in furnishing corn flakes and other products to the people, he was per- forming a health service.”

49 Independence Day in 1907 brought early dis- aster to the new company. The factory on Bartlett Street was destroyed by fire—a loss of $60,000. For any other Battle Creek entrepreneur, it might have spelled the end. But, while production con- tinued at a secondary plant, Will Kellogg rushed a Chicago architect to the scene and plans for a modern, fireproof cereal factory were prepared before the ruins had stopped smoking. The fire is of no consequence. You can’t burn down what we have registered in the mind of the American woman. A key to the company’s success was, of course, in advertising. Kellogg’s publicity budget grew as rapidly as production expanded, because he believed in firm identification of a good product, never a hard sell. Courage proved to be the strongest cornerstone. When Wall Street collapsed in 1929 and brokers were ledge- leaping, Kellogg shrugged confidently and dou- bled his advertising budget: “This is the time to go out and spend more money in advertising.” He was right. The Kellogg Company, certain that Americans would eat breakfast—especially a breakfast of low-cost cereals—was scarcely affected by the Depression. There were legal problems, however. Dr. John H. Kellogg felt he was somehow the Kellogg and that Will’s signature on cereal packages implied that the famous Doctor endorsed them. The elder Kellogg even went about setting up his own Kellogg Food Company. The brothers had no compunctions about suing each other, and the resulting litigation not only culminated in victories for Will Kellogg, but near- estrange- ment between the two men. It was a rift that

50 would last until the end of their lives, both at the age of 91. The brothers saw little of each other in their final years. In 1943, Dr. Kellogg sent a con- ciliatory note to his brother, acknowledging that Will had been wronged in many ways, but the note’s delivery was delayed. The Doctor died before Will saw it.

Success and Tragedy “Kind Providence” There came the day that the company trea- surer was asked to go over Kellogg’s personal ledgers and put them in better shape. Returning, the treasurer said to his boss, “Well, these books indicated that you are worth a million dollars.” “I am no such thing,” W.K. gasped. He looked over the figures, and conceded the facts. “Well, I never expected to be worth that much.” In the early days we passed through many strenuous times and had many anxious hours, not always knowing where funds were coming from to take care of the next week’s payroll. I never, at any period of my life, aspired to become wealthy, but the fierce competition perhaps developed a fighting spirit, and in the effort to secure our share, the business has succeeded. It is my hope that the property that kind Providence has brought me may be help- ful to many others, and that I may be found a faithful steward.

51 Will Kellogg’s charities were legion, and it is hard to truly calculate them. His home was open to friends and relatives who were down on their luck, and many visits to homes of ill friends ended in unsolicited financial help.

His way of making others happy perhaps compensated for having failed to lead an “aver- age” life at home. To his family, he had been an autocrat. He had raised his children as sternly as he had been. Because he had had little time to spend with his wife and children—building a successful firm had been an all-consuming goal— barriers came up between himself and others in his household. W.K. was to regret this deeply in later years, particularly after the death in 1912 of his wife, Ella. For some years he refused to marry again, for fear of making another woman unhap- py. Yet in 1918 he met and married a distin- guished San physician, Dr. Carrie Staines.

Meanwhile, the Kellogg Company dealt responsibly and judiciously with its employees. By 1927 a nursery was in operation at the plant for children of female workers. A medical and dental clinic looked after the children, and a dietitian watched over their nourishment. The Depression renewed his concern for his employ- ees, and more shifts were created so more family men could be hired. President Herbert Hoover saw potential in the experiment for a nationwide program, and summoned Kellogg to the White House for a discussion. Kellogg also provided funds for constructing a ten-acre park on the grounds of the Battle Creek plant to provide work for those who didn’t have a paycheck.

As one of his bequests, Kellogg gave 21,400 shares of company stock in 1944 to a Twenty-

52 W.K. Kellogg’s “Big House” was 500 feet above Pomona Valley (California) and overlooked the 800- acre Kellogg Ranch. He took particular pride in the beauty of his Arabian colt twins, Calamyr and Calamyra.

As he later did with his homes, in 1932 Kellogg gave away his $3 million Arabian horse ranch for public ser- vice use. Below are shown Comedian Will Rogers, Governor James Rolph of California, and Mr. Kellogg at a ceremony during which the ranch was given to the . The property was used by the United States government during World War II as an Army Remount Station and now is the Pomona campus of California State Polytechnic University. As his company prospered, Kellogg purchased homes in Florida and Michigan, and a ranch in California. In World War II he donated the two homes for public service use. Pictured above is the Dunedin Isles home, north of Clearwater, Florida, and below is the Gull Lake estate near Battle Creek, Michigan.

54 In 1930, Mr. Kellogg established the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and soon thereafter made it the benefi- ciary of personal assets valued at $45 million. Until 1967, the Foundation’s staff was housed on two floors of “The Inn,” a Battle Creek apartment house built by Mr. Kellogg in 1924. Kellogg maintained an apartment at The Inn. Because he suffered from glau- coma the last 14 years of his life, he owned several dogs.

55 W.K. Kellogg maintained an office in the Foundation’s headquarters. Because of his concern for the health and education of children, he was intrigued by the Michigan Community Health Project. and unobtrusively attended many of the meetings with citizen leaders.

For more than a decade during the 1930s, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation operated the Michigan Community Health Project (MCHP). It was a pioneer- ing effort which demonstrated in seven Michigan counties that the family’s health, educational oppor- tunities, and general standard of living could be enhanced through public health services, and child- hood medical screening and care, together with an extensive program of school improvement, expanded library services and general community development. Comprehensive programs, involving millions of dollars in Foundation aid, were aimed at giving hos- pital and public school administrators opportunities for advanced education. For example, the Foundation initiated an effort that would eventually include strengthening graduate and postgraduate courses in 38 schools of medicine, dentistry and nursing in the United States and Canada.

Kellogg shunned the limelight and often refused to take public credit for his financial support of com- munity projects. Here, a candid camera shot catches him comfortably lost in the crowd during a ceremony dedicating the auditorium which he gave to the City of Battle Creek.

57 58 Mr. Kellogg’s personal gifts, and support from the Kellogg Foundation, also have benefited nearly every aspect of life in Kellogg’s home town of Battle Creek, Michigan. Such efforts at community betterment have included the Ann J. Kellogg School (above left), named after W.K.’s mother, which has long been a national model of mainstreaming the education of handicapped children into a regular K-12 school sys- tem. Others included a bird sanctuary, forest and experimental farm (lower left), a junior high school and auditorium (above), and the Kellogg Community College (below).

59 W.K. Kellogg in the late 1920s.

60 Five Year Fund to assist veteran employees in financial need. The workers were part of his “fam- ily,” in a sense, and he lavished attention on them. In his own home, the strength and wise counsel were there, but the pocketbook tended to remain shut. “Above all things,” Will Kellogg wrote to his son Karl, “I want that my sons should develop into conscientious and truthful men, and even should you never be able to acquire a large amount of money, I shall appreci- ate the attributes of sincerity, honesty and trust- worthiness above all other things.” Kellogg hoped that other members of his fam- ily would take up the business, but even that story is laced with personality clashes and tragedy. The first catastrophe occurred when Kenneth, daugh- ter Beth’s first child, fell accidentally from a sec- ond-story window onto a concrete driveway. Despite his wealth, there was little Kellogg could do for the permanently injured boy. The establishing of the Foundation was due in part to the fact that although I was amply able to pay the medical and surgi- cal bills for Kenneth, I found it almost impossible to obtain adequate treatment for him during the first ten or twelve years of his life. This caused me to wonder what difficulties were in the paths of needy parents who seek help for their children when catastrophe strikes, and I resolved to lend what aid I could to such children. While this event may have been one of the sparks that eventually created the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the material that fed the flames lay in Kellogg’s confirmed belief that it was improper to leave a great fortune to one’s children.

61 Dollars have never been known to pro- duce character, and character will never be produced by money. W.K.’s son, John Leonard—known generally as “J.L.”—began work for the company in 1908 and was factory superintendent by 1912. But J.L. had a strong personality like his father and even- tually resigned from the company in 1925. W.K. thereafter turned his attention to J.L.’s son, John, Jr. Unfortunately, clashes again ensued and John, Jr. set out on his own in the food industry, only to take his own life over a business failure. So W.K. remained at the reins, retaining a firm grip over his company even when at his California winter home. He eventually turned control of the company over to hand-picked businessmen, but he would not slow his own pace. He strove for the goals of his diversified interests almost as ardently as he had worked to build his company. Will Kellogg was also one of the first American entrepreneurs to recognize the poten- tial of international markets. He expanded his company’s operations to Canada and Australia in 1924 and England in 1938. Today, the Kellogg Company has plants in numerous countries around the world. Success such as this is always amazing when one recalls that the driving force behind it was a man with little formal schooling, and this was a fact of which Kellogg was always conscious. As he grew older, Kellogg sought the broadening influence of travel and literature. Occasionally he would finance projects that were years ahead of their time, such as experiments in solar heat- ing. But most important was to be his search for

62 an adequate way to dispense his vast fortune. This interest, perhaps, kept him going for decades beyond the normal life span. Although Kellogg paid meticulous attention to his own health, illness badgered him. He suffered from glaucoma, an eye disease which leads to gradual impairment of sight. During the last nine or ten years of his life, Kellogg was totally blind. He refused to be disheartened and instead kept his mind busy. Yet Kellogg had his sad, introspective moments: “I would give all my money just to see the sun and the green grass again.”

The Shy Benefactor “I Am a Selfish Person”

At one time John Preston Kellogg owned what was claimed to be an Arabian horse, an ani- mal which his son Will deeply loved. When his father sold the horse, brokenhearted Will vowed he would someday own a whole stable of such steeds. As usual, Will was as good as his word. With his corporate wealth, Kellogg over the years acquired horses and built stables near his 19- room villa atop a small California mountain. This became the 800-acre W.K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Ranch, five miles from the city of Pomona, California.

63 In 1932, Kellogg gave the $3,000,000 ranch to the University of California, which operated it for almost a decade as the W.K. Kellogg Institute of Animal Husbandry. The property later was used by the United States government during World War II as an Army Remount Station and now is the Pomona campus of California State Polytechnic University. The ranch also has played a great part in perpetuating the Arabian horse in America. The breeding and training of the horses is still an important part of the University’s edu- cational program. Kellogg himself enjoyed riding to the property’s far reaches until an accident and some narrow escapes convinced him to end his riding days. Instead, he went hiking. Kellogg loved dogs, and in 1927 acquired Rinson, a son of the famous dog hero of film, Rin Tin Tin. Rinson was the first of three German shepherds which made Kellogg’s later years hap- pier and easier, serving as bodyguards, guides and faithful friends. In 1934, Kellogg bought a villa at Dunedin Isles, just north of Clearwater, Florida. This home and his estate at Gull Lake north of Battle Creek also were made available for use by the U.S. mil- itary in World War II. The Dunedin Isles home was eventually sold by the Foundation. The Gull Lake estate was given to Michigan State University and is now used as a biological exper- iment station and for off-campus agricultural education programs. The real reason for making these properties available for public service during the war is typ- ical of Kellogg: He felt it was sinful for his house- hold to live in luxury while others scrimped through years of . He disposed of many frills such as boats and automobiles, for the mantle

64 of wealth had never rested comfortably on his shoulders. He enjoyed the finer things, but his puritanical conscience often assailed him over so-called selfish indulgences. To his mind, it was all right to spend money on others. In 1909, Kellogg wrote “If I am successful in getting out of debt and become prosperous in my business affairs, I expect to make a good use of any wealth that may come to me.” His early per- sonal philanthropies were both spontaneous and varied. They included assistance to rural teach- ers, for British children orphaned by war, to aid the blind, and for a number of hospital and med- ical programs. In 1925, Kellogg asked three friends to over- see the Fellowship Corporation, an agency which he created to distribute almost $1 million and which was a forerunner to the establishment of a foundation of much greater scope five years later. Yet, even with such considerable contribu- tions to public needs, Kellogg was still some- what at a loss over how most effectively to rein- vest his money in people. It has been much easier to make money than to know how to spend it wisely. Kellogg’s love of children and talent for orga- nization finally shaped an agency that would have a full-time trusteeship over specified goals— an agency that would require an expert, profes- sional staff. Kellogg summoned Dr. A.C. Selmon, an Adventist medical missionary who had helped him through a bout with pneumonia during a visit to China. Selmon became the Foundation’s first president, and received specific advice:

65 I want to establish a foundation that will help handicapped children everywhere to face the future with confidence, with health, and with a strong-rooted security in their trust of this country and its institutions.

In June 1930, the W.K. Kellogg Child Welfare Foundation was organized, then reorganized just two months later as the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Kellogg had realized that by serving children principally, the Foundation would help the world at large. President Herbert Hoover invited Kellogg to assist in a White House con- ference on Child Health and Protection, influ- encing Kellogg’s early concept of his foundation at a time when national needs were so strongly felt. “I don’t want to restrict you in any way,” he told his new staff. “Use the money as you please so long as it promotes the health, happiness and well-being of children.”

Relief, raiment and shelter are necessary for destitute children, but the greatest good for the greatest number can come only through the education of the child, the parent, the teacher, the family physi- cian, and the community in general. Education offers the greatest opportunity for really improving one generation over another.

Through the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Trust, Kellogg made the Foundation beneficiary of assets valued at approximately $45 million (largely stock in the Kellogg Company). With Will Kellogg as counsel, his Foundation was led by action. Dusty ideas were shelved in favor of soundly advised, practical concepts which could be implemented directly.

66 Kellogg supported the Foundation’s early emphasis on the application of existing knowl- edge to the problems of people. That commit- ment was reflected during the 1930s in the Michigan Community Health Project (MCHP)—a pioneering effort that demonstrated in seven Michigan counties that the family’s health, edu- cational opportunities, and general standard of living could be enhanced through public health services and childhood medical screening and care, together with an extensive program of school improvement, expanded library services and general community development. To say that W.K. was intrigued by the MCHP would be an understatement. He maintained an office in the Foundation’s headquarters at Battle Creek and unobtrusively attended many of the meetings with citizen leaders. He had long believed that the “forgotten child” of America was not exclusively in the poor areas of cities but also in rural communities where socio-economic improvements were slow to be realized. After World War II, during which the Foundation temporarily revised its program to direct resources to the war effort, the organiza- tion shifted its focus from the direct action of MCHP to primarily financial assistance to insti- tutions, communities and individuals. Kellogg refused to dictate goals and direc- tions, although he might grumble occasionally over the high cost of philanthropy (“Why is it necessary to use the long-distance telephone to give away money?”). Kellogg’s international outlook for his com- pany was equally evident in the Foundation’s programming. Fellowships for study in the

67 United States had been granted to nationals of other countries by the Foundation since 1937. Immediately after World War II the Foundation broadened its areas of concern to include all of the United States, Canada and Latin America. Toward the end of the 1930s, comprehensive programs, involving millions of dollars in Foundation aid, were targeted on giving hospital and public school administrators opportunities for advanced education. During these years, the Foundation also initiated an effort that would eventually include strengthening graduate and postgraduate courses in 38 schools of medicine, dentistry and nursing in the United States and Canada. In all the Foundation’s endeavors, Kellogg remained behind the scenes, avoiding the lime- light. He would have to be cajoled into attending ceremonies marking his gifts, and if he attended at all, he would sit in the back row, out of view. Any success of the Foundation is due to the trustees and the staff. They had the vision. I only supplied the funds. Through his early personal philanthropies, and the foundation which bears his name, near- ly every aspect of community life in Kellogg’s home town of Battle Creek has benefited. Ann J. Kellogg School, named after W.K.’s mother, has long been a national model of mainstreaming the education of handicapped children into a regular K-12 school system. Kellogg Community College has received millions of dollars in grants for edu- cational facilities and programs. Battle Creek pub- lic and private schools have been aided in strengthening academic programs, providing inservice training for teachers and administrators,

68 and using new instructional technology in the classroom. A youth building, Family Y Center and child guidance clinic represent but a few of the other youth-oriented beneficiaries of Kellogg support. The cultural and educational life of the com- munity has been enhanced through Kellogg assis- tance for a civic center/arena, an auditorium, a civic arts center addition, a zoo, and for the W.K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary, Experimental Farm, and Forest. Area hospitals, libraries and other human service agencies have all been aided in their efforts to improve the health and well-being of area citizens. The Foundation’s major work, however, lies in the world at large. In more than half a century of helping people help themselves, the Foundation supports programs in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean, and the southern African countries ofBotswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. Long before his death, Kellogg was resigned to his inevitable passing. In 1933 he gave instructions for a simple funeral where “the expenses should not exceed $500.” He had no idea he would live for many more years, and remain active in the cor- poration and Foundation he so loved.

In 1946, however, Kellogg declined re-elec- tion to the company’s board of directors. The break was never complete and the pioneer work ethic dogged him even as he made the Foundation his last driving interest. On his ninetieth birthday, the Battle Creek factory unit presented him with a 45-year pin, and Kellogg responded with unchar- acteristic tearfulness: “I don’t deserve it. After all, I don’t work there anymore.”

69 The second Mrs. Kellogg died in February 1948. John L. Kellogg, W.K.’s son, died unexpect- edly of a cerebral hemorrhage. A year later, W.K.’s beloved sister, Mrs. Clara Butler, also died. Those who knew Will saw him age considerably from that point, and his ninety-first year was marked by illnesses and rallies. He had the strength to visit the office he maintained at the Foundation and to attend his sister’s funeral, but by mid- September he had to return to the hospital. Very quietly, in the midafternoon of October 6, 1951, he died, and his ashes were buried shortly there- after in Oak Hill Cemetery in Battle Creek, the city he had helped to make “The Cereal Capital of the World.”

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation The WK. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1931) “In help people help themselves.” Over the years, the Foundation’s programming has evolved, and has sought to remain innovative and responsive to the ever-changing needs of society. As a private grantmaking organization, the Foundation provides financial assistance to orga- nizations and institutions that have identified and analyzed problems, and have designed con- structive and practical solutions. The Foundation encourages these solutions to be adapted by those who face similar problems elsewhere, so that the “ripple effect” can benefit other individuals and communities. Its program-

70 ming tocuses on the application of knowledge, rather than research. Today, the WK. Kellogg Foundation is among the world’s largest foundations in terms of assets, annual grants, and total giving. To achieve the greatest impact, the Foundation targets its grants toward specific areas. These are: health, food systems and rural development, youth and education, and philan- thropy and volunteerism. To further its effectiveness, the Foundation seeks to learn from the knowledge, experiences, and lessons learned by its projects as they apply to: leadership, information and communication technology, capitalizing on diversity, and social and economic community development. The Foundation awards grants in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and six countries in southern Africa: Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. To learn more about the Foundation’s pro- gramming and grant application procedures, please write to: W.K. Kellogg Foundation P.O. Box 550 Battle Creek, Michigan U.S.A. 49016-0550 Or, visit our Web site at: www.wkkf.org.

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W.K.KELLOGG FOUNDATION

One Michigan Avenue East Battle Creek, MI 49017-4058 USA 616-968-1611 TDD on site Telex: 4953028 Facsimile: 616-968-0413 Internet: http://www.wkkf.org

CO2869.0202 Item #1105 2.5M STA Recycled Paper Soy Inks