Mars, Frank

The candy maker Frank Mars (1883-1934) was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father was a gristmill operator in Philadelphia, who had moved to St. Paul. Shortly after his birth, Frank Mars contracted polio; he remained disabled throughout his life. Frank Mars mastered his mother’s candy recipes and experimented on his own, creating new confections. He started a business of selling penny candies, which were usually manufactured on a small scale by women. By 1902, he was operating a wholesale candy firm in Minneapolis. That year, he married Ethel G. Kissack and their only son, Forrest Mars, was born in 1904.
Frank Mars and his wife barely survived financially. When their money ran out in 1910, his wife divorced him. Mars married another woman also named Ethel and moved to Tacoma, Washington, where he began making nougat. He was bankrupt within a year. He kept trying but his efforts failed, so in 1920 he skipped town (owing money) and returned to Minnesota.
Back in Minneapolis, Frank Mars founded a candy company, later named Mars, Inc., which turned out to be a success. It was during this time that Frank Mars was reintroduced to his son, Forrest, whom he had not seen since his divorce from his first wife. In 1923, the company introduced the Milky Way bar, which received local distribution. In 1930, Mars introduced the Snickers bar, which quickly became the most popular candy bar in America, a position it has held ever since. Snickers was followed by 3 Musketeers in 1932. Frank and Forrest Mars quarreled and Forrest was forced out of the company in 1932. Fifteen months later, Frank Mars died at age 51. He left Mars, Inc. to his wife.