Herman Warden Lay (March 6, 1909 – December 6, 1982) was an American businessman who was involved in

potato chip A potato chip (North American English; often just chip) or crisp (British and Irish English) is a thin slice of potato that has been either deep fried, baked, or air fried until crunchy. They are commonly served as a snack, side dish, or app ...

manufacturing with his eponymous brand of

Lay's Lay's is a brand of potato chips, as well as the name of the company that founded the chip brand in the United States. The brand is also referred to as Frito-Lay because both Lay's and Fritos are brands sold by the Frito-Lay company, which h ...

potato chips. He started H.W. Lay Co., Inc., now part of the

Frito-Lay Frito-Lay is an American subsidiary of PepsiCo that manufactures, markets, and sells corn chips, potato chips, and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-fla ...

corporation, a subsidiary of

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the man ...

.Charlotte Mecklenburg Library

Early life

Lay was born in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

on March 6, 1909.Laura Lee, ''The Name's Familiar: Mr. Leotard, Barbie, and Chef Boy-Ar-Dee'', Pelican Publishing, 1999, p. 15

/ref> His father, Jesse N. Lay, worked for

International Harvester The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated by IHC, IH, or simply International ( colloq.)) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household e ...

, first as a bookkeeper in Charlotte and later as a commercial salesman in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the ci ...

, where the family moved. By 1920, they moved to Greenville, South Carolina. In 1922 his mother died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...

and his father remarried. He then attended

Furman University Furman University is a private liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina. Founded in 1826 and named for the clergyman Richard Furman, Furman University is the oldest private institution of higher learning in South Carolina. It beca ...

on an athletic scholarship for two years, but did not graduate.

Career

He began his career at

Sunshine Biscuits Sunshine Biscuits, formerly known as The Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company, was an independent American baker of cookies, crackers, and cereals. The company, which became a brand on a few products such as Cheez-Its, was purchased by Keebler Compa ...

and was laid off because of the Great Depression.The Smith Center for Private Enterprise Studies
Dirk E. Burhans, ''Crunch!: A History of the Great American Potato Chip'', Terrace Books, 2008, p. 4

/ref> He then worked as a traveling salesman for the Barrett Food Company, when he delivered

potato chips A potato chip (North American English; often just chip) or crisp (British and Irish English) is a thin slice of potato that has been either deep fried, baked, or air fried until crunchy. They are commonly served as a snack, side dish, or a ...

to his customers in his Ford Model A. His territory eventually expanded and his profits began to grow. In 1932, he borrowed US$100 and founded the H.W. Lay Distributing Company based in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

, a distributor for the Barrett Food Products Company, and began to hire employees. He peddled potato chips from Atlanta to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

.Lovedeep Kaur, ''Advances in Potato Chemistry and Technology'', Academic Press, 2009, p. 2

/ref> By 1937, he had 25 employees, and had begun producing his own line of snack foods. The H.W. Lay & Company merged with The Frito Company in September 1961, creating the largest-selling snack food company in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, the

corporation. In 1965, Herman W. Lay (Chairman and Chief executive officer of Frito-Lay) and

Donald M. Kendall Donald Mcintosh Kendall (March 16, 1921 – September 19, 2020) was an American businessman and political adviser. He served as CEO of Pepsi Cola (which merged with Herman Lay's Frito Lay, Inc. to become PepsiCo in 1965) and as CEO of Peps ...

(President and Chief executive officer of Pepsi-Cola) merged the two companies and formed PepsiCo, Inc. A philanthropist, he helped found the

Association of Private Enterprise Education The Association of Private Enterprise Education is a nonprofit organization. It was founded by a philanthropic donation from Herman Lay, co-founder of Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo.

(APEE).

Personal life

Lay married Sarah Amelia "Mimi" Harper and had four children. He died at the age of 73 on December 6, 1982. His late son, Herman Warden Lay Jr., was a

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

-based co-founder of a bottling company in

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

for

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi was ...

and

7 Up 7 Up (stylized as 7up outside North America) is an American brand of lemon-lime-flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper although the beverage is internationally distributed by PepsiCo. 7 Up co ...

Legacy

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has a room named after him. His alma mater,

, offers a scholarship in his name. The Furman University Herman W. Lay Physical Activities Center is named after him. The Lay Ornamental Garden in the

Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 8525 Garland Road in East Dallas, Texas, on the southeastern shore of White Rock Lake. History The majority of the grounds were once part of a estate known as ''Rancho ...

is named after him. In 1975, Lay received the Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lay, Herman Businesspeople from Charlotte, North Carolina Businesspeople from Atlanta Furman University alumni 1909 births 1982 deaths PepsiCo people Frito-Lay 20th-century American businesspeople