Will Keith Kellogg

William Keith Kellogg (April 7, 1860 – October 6, 1951) was an American industrialist in food manufacturing, who founded the Kellogg Company, which produces a wide variety of popular breakfast cereals. He was a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church and practiced vegetarianism as a dietary principle taught by his church. He also founded the Kellogg Arabian Ranch, which breeds Arabian horses. Kellogg was a philanthropist and started the Kellogg Foundation in 1934 with a $66-million donation. Early career As a young businessman, Kellogg started out selling brooms in his hometown of Battle Creek, Michigan. In December 1878, W.K. Kellogg was hired by George H. King at the urging of James Springer White, also known as Elder White, to help run his new broom factory in Dallas, Texas. W.K. returned home in November 1879 to help his brother John Harvey Kellogg manage the Battle Creek Sanitarium. The sanitarium, originally the Western Health Reform Institute, was part of a pioneering effort based on the health principles advocated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Kellogg‘s family are of paternal English descent which can be traced to three brothers Daniel, Joseph and Samuel, of Braintree, Essex, England, who emigrated to the Connecticut colony in the 17th century. John Kellogg described the Sanitarium system as "a composite physiologic method comprising hydrotherapy, phototherapy, thermotherapy, electrotherapy, mechanotherapy, dietetics, physical culture, cold-air cure, eugenics, and health training". The Kelloggs pioneered the process of making flaked cereal. Because of the commercial potential of the discovery, W.K. wanted it kept a secret. However, John allowed anyone in the sanitarium to observe the flaking process and one sanitarium guest, C. W. Post, copied the process to start his own company. That company became Post Cereals and, later, General Foods, the source of Post's first million dollars. That upset W.K. to the extent that he left the sanitarium to create his own company.