Hershey Chocolate Corporation

Trained as a confectioner, Milton S. Hershey became a pioneering American chocolatier, businessman, and philanthropist. After early setbacks, he found success with the Lancaster Caramel Company and later turned to chocolate, founding the company that grew into one of the best-known names in American candy.

He is especially remembered for helping popularize milk chocolate in the United States and for building not just a factory, but a community around it in Hershey, Pennsylvania. That larger vision is a big part of why his life continues to interest readers: his work joined manufacturing, town-building, and charitable giving in a way that still stands out.

Hershey’s legacy reaches beyond chocolate. He and his wife, Catherine, are closely associated with the Milton Hershey School, and his philanthropy remains one of the most enduring parts of his life story.