Russell William Stover (May 6, 1888 – May 11, 1954) was an American

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

, and co-founder, with his wife

Clara Clara may refer to: Organizations * CLARA, Latin American academic computer network organization * Clara.Net, a European ISP * Consolidated Land and Rail Australia, a property development consortium People * Clara (given name), a feminine gi ...

, of

Russell Stover Candies Russell Stover Chocolates, Inc., founded by Russell Stover, an American chemist and entrepreneur, and his wife Clara Stover in 1923, is an American supplier of candy, chocolate, and confections. The corporate headquarters are in Kansas City, M ...

Early life

In 1911, Stover married Clara Mae Lewis, whom he had met at the Iowa City Academy, and they moved to a farm in Saskatchewan, Canada, which they received as a wedding gift. On the farm, they raised wheat and flax but after a year, they considered the venture to have been a failure and, in 1912, they moved to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

. Stover then entered the candy industry. He first went to work for a Minnesota candy company and then for the A. G. Morris Candy Company in

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. In 1918, the couple moved to Des Moines, where Stover worked for the Irwin Candy Company, and then they moved to

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest ...

Eskimo Pie

On July 31, 1921, Christian Nelson of

Onawa, Iowa Onawa is a city in, and the county seat of, Monona County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,906 at the time of the 2020 Census. It is the largest town on the Iowa side of the Missouri River between Council Bluffs and Sioux City. Hist ...

, pitched the concept of mass-producing a chocolate-covered ice cream treat called the I-Scream Bar to Russell Stover. Seven companies had previously rejected the idea because the confection easily melted away. Stover went into partnership with Nelson, and their agreement was signed on the letterhead of the Graham Ice Cream Company of Omaha. Stover renamed the I-Scream Bar to

Eskimo Pie Edy's Pie (formerly known as Eskimo Pie) is an American brand of chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream bar wrapped in foil. It was the first such dessert sold in the United States. It is marketed by Dreyer's, a division of Froneri. In wake of the ...

and took out the stick to make it a sandwich. Stover has also been credited, through his knowledge of chemistry, with devising the formula for the chocolate shell that hardens on exposure to cold and holds the ice cream contents within. Nelson patented the confection on January 24, 1922. The Eskimo Pie immediately became so successful, the factory could not keep up with demand and the company licensed the formula to 1,500 manufacturers in exchange for a royalty of one cent per dozen sold. The treat was marketed under the brand of Russell Stover Company and, in April 1922, ''

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'' stated that the partners had received US$30,000 a week in royalties in the first year. Following the success of the Eskimo Pie, competing manufacturers soon came up with similar, but different, processes for making frozen ice cream pies, and at one point Stover and Nelson were paying $4,000 per day in legal fees to defend their patent, a battle which they ultimately lost.

Russell Stover Candies

In 1923, Russell Stover sold his share of the Eskimo Pie company for $25,000 and moved to

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, where he and his wife started a new company, Mrs. Stover's Bungalow Candies, which operated out of Clara Stover's kitchen in their

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a b ...

, making boxed chocolates. In 1925, the couple opened a candy factory in Denver and another one in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the List of United States cities by populat ...

. In 1931, the company moved its headquarters to Kansas City. During the 1940s, the name of the company was officially changed to Russell Stover Candies. When Russell Stover died in 1954, five days after his 66th birthday, the company that bore his name was producing 11 million pounds of candy annually and selling its products through 40 Russell Stover shops and in about 2,000 department stores.

Clara Stover Clara Mae Stover (1882-1975) was the wife and co-founder of candy maker, Russell Stover, who created Russell Stover Candies. Clara Mae solely ran the company following Russell's death. Early life and marriage Clara Mae Stover was born in O ...

operated the company until 1960, when it was sold to Louis Ward for $7.5 million. At the time of the purchase, Mr. Ward owned a box company that had Russell Stover Candies as an important customer. The Ward family owned the brand until July 14, 2014, when the Swiss chocolate-maker Lindt bought Russell Stover Candies. At the time of the sale, Lindt reported the revenue of Russell Stover Candies at $500 million.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stover, Russell 1888 births 1954 deaths People from Osborne County, Kansas Businesspeople from Omaha, Nebraska Businesspeople from Denver Businesspeople from Des Moines, Iowa Iowa State University alumni People from Iowa City, Iowa Businesspeople from Kansas 20th-century American businesspeople American company founders