Ernest Woodruff (May 23, 1863 – June 5, 1944), sometimes erroneously Earnest, was an American businessman from
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, Georgia.
Early life and marriage
Woodruff was born in
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee ...
. After relocating to Atlanta, he made his home in the
Inman Park suburb, developed by his brother-in-law
Joel Hurt.
On April 22, 1885, Woodruff married Emily Caroline Winship, child of foundry magnate
Robert Winship.
Career
With his brother-in-law Joel Hurt, Woodruff founded the
Atlanta and Edgewood Street Railroad, which ran its first electric trolleys on April 22, 1889. Woodruff followed Hurt as president of the
Trust Company
A trust company is a corporation that acts as a fiduciary, trustee or agent of trusts and agencies. A professional trust company may be independently owned or owned by, for example, a bank or a law firm, and which specializes in being a trust ...
in 1904; he held this post for 18 years before becoming
chairman of the board
The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...
.
Woodruff's greatest skill was in re-organizing existing companies to improve value by increased scale:
In 1903, he combined three small ice and coal companies into the
Atlanta Ice and Coal Company, which went on to become
Americold.
In 1910, with the help of the Trust Company, he organized ice and coal companies from Virginia and throughout the Carolinas into
Atlantic Ice and Coal. With high costs of home and office deliveries, none of these companies were able to make much money on their own, but combined they made handsome returns to
shareholders
A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...
.
Woodruff then restructured the
Atlantic Steel factory (current site of
Atlantic Station) and installed Thomas Glenn to get it out of debt. The restructuring of Atlantic Steel would set the table for the biggest move of Woodruff's career: the takeover of
The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...
in 1919, which he negotiated with
Asa Griggs Candler. Ernest Woodruff's sons,
Robert W. Woodruff and
George W. Woodruff, would run Coca-Cola for many years, leaving Asa Candler's son
Howard Candler out of the picture.
References
External links
Emily and Ernest Woodruff Foundation Records at Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University
Coca-Cola people
History of Atlanta
Businesspeople from Atlanta
People from Columbus, Georgia
1863 births
1944 deaths
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