What year did Robert Woodruff become President of Coca-Cola?
Robert Winship Woodruff was an entrepreneur who made possible the success of the Coca-Cola Company. Born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1889, he worked as a truck salesman for the White Motor Company, based in Cleveland, Ohio, and quickly rose to the position of general sales manager. Three years earlier in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. John Pemberton had invented a new carbonated soft drink flavored with malt syrup, dubbed Coca-Cola by his partner Frank M. Robinson. Sold for 5 cents a glass, “Coke” was first distributed in syrup form and sold only at soda fountains. When Pemberton died in 1888, Asa Candler purchased his secret formula and elevated Coca-Cola to a national brand. By 1895, just seven years after he bought the company, Coca-Cola was available in every U.S. state. Atlanta banker Ernest Woodruff, president of the Trust Company of Georgia, recognized the company’s potential and persuaded his son to invest in the Coca-Cola Company. In 1923, Woodruff became president of the now publicly tra
