Hyman Golden (June 11, 1923 – September 14, 2008) was one of the co-founders of the

Snapple Snapple is a brand of tea and juice drinks which is owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, based in Plano, Texas, United States. The original producer of Snapple, a company that was known as Unadulterated Food Products, was founded in 1972. The brand achieved ...

Beverage Corporation (now part of the

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Dr Pepper Snapple Group was an American multinational soft drink company based in Plano, Texas. Since July 2018, it is a business unit of the publicly-traded conglomerate Keurig Dr Pepper. Formerly Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages, part of ...

) and was the company's chairman when the firm's juice drinks and teas attained national attention in the late 1980s.

Biography

Golden was born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in

Passaic, New Jersey Passaic ( or ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was List of municipalities in New Jersey, the state's 16th-most-populous ...

, to an immigrant father from

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, and grew up in

Middle Village, Queens Middle Village is a neighborhood in the central section of the Borough (New York City), borough of Queens, New York City, bounded to the north by the Long Island Expressway, to the east by Woodhaven Boulevard, to the south by Cooper Avenue and t ...

. He served in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

. Golden had little formal education and one of his early jobs was as a window washer for his father. He worked as a business broker and later founded a maintenance company together with Leonard Marsh, his wife Mitzi's brother.O'Connor, Anahad
"Hyman Golden, Co-Founder of Snapple, Dies at 85"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', September 20, 2008. Accessed September 20, 2008. "In 1980, the company introduced a line of all-natural juices with the Snapple name, which came from one of its first products, a carbonated apple juice that had a “snappy apple taste.”" Golden co-founded Unadulterated Food Products in 1972 to sell fruit juices to

health food store A health food store (or health food shop) is a type of grocery store that primarily sells healthful foods, organic foods, local produce, and often nutritional supplements. Health food stores typically offer a wider or more specialized selectio ...

s, together with Marsh and Arnold Greenberg, who himself operated a health food store in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

's East Village. Golden's partners, Marsh and Goldberg, had been childhood friends since the early 1930s, who had both attended PS 165 and

Samuel J. Tilden High School Samuel J. Tilden High School was a List of high schools in New York City, New York City public high school in the East Flatbush, Brooklyn, East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York City. It was named for Samuel J. Tilden, the former govern ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. The word "Snapple" was introduced for a lines of drinks introduced in the early 1980s and is derived from a carbonated apple juice. The firm's iced tea line, introduced in 1987, led to increased sales. The company, originally headquartered in

, relocated to

Valley Stream, New York Valley Stream is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. The population in the Village of Valley Stream was 40,634 at the tim ...

, where the partners lived. As the company grew exponentially the firm was bought out by Thomas H. Lee Company in April 1992 for $140 million, with the three original partners retaining a one-third share of the company which had annual sales of $100 million the previous year. The company went public in December 1992 for $10 per share, split two-for-one in 1993, and was bought out by the

Quaker Oats Company The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American food Conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. As Quaker Mill Company, the company was founded in 1877 in Ravenna, Ohio. In 1881, Henry Crowell bought the company and ...

in November 1994 for $1.7 billion, with $1.1 paying for the 68% share in the firm held by Thomas H. Lee Company, along with Hyman and his original two partners.Norris, Floyd
"Market Place; Big Winners, Big Losers In Snapple's Life Story"
''

'', November 3, 1994. Accessed September 21, 2008. The company changed hands several times over the years and is now a part of the

. Golden retired as Snapple's chairman in 1995. He died on September 14, 2008, in

Great Neck, New York Great Neck is a region contained within Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, New York (state), New York, on Long Island, which covers a peninsula on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore and includes nine incorporated villages, among th ...

of complications from a stroke.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Golden, Hyman 1923 births 2008 deaths American drink industry businesspeople Drink company founders People from Middle Village, Queens People from Passaic, New Jersey American people of Romanian-Jewish descent American food company founders Samuel J. Tilden High School alumni Jewish American military personnel United States Air Force airmen 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews