Forrest Edward Mars, Sr. Born March 21, 1904 d. 1999
American candy maker. Inventor of M&M’s. They were designed so that soldiers would not get their trigger fingers sticky.
Mars got the idea for M&Ms in the 1930s when he saw soldiers eating British-made Smarties during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Smarties were chocolate pellets with a colored shell of hardened sugar syrup, preventing them from melting. Mars received a patent for his process and began manufacturing them in 1941. During World War II, the candies were sold only to the military.
The M&M name represents the names of Mars and Bruce Murrie, who had a 20% share in the product and was the son of Hershey Chocolate’s president William F. R. Murrie.
The slogan “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand” was introduced in 1949.
Mars also invented the Mars candy bar (1932) and established Uncle Ben’s Rice products and the Pedigree pet food brand. He was the son of Frank C. Mars, founder of the Mars, Inc. candy company, which he took over upon the death of his father in 1934.
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