Businessman Robert W. Woodruff (1889-1985) was the head of the Coca-Cola Company from 1923 until 1984, during which time sales increased from $31 million a year to $7.36 billion. He was also a political and economic power in Atlanta and nationally and a major philanthropist of the period.

Born in Columbus, Georgia, on December 6, 1889, Robert Winship Woodruff was the son of Ernest Woodruff, who later became a prominent businessman in Atlanta. Robert Woodruff was educated at Georgia Military Academy and attended Emory University from 1908 to 1910. In the latter year he became a machinist's apprentice and then salesman at General Fire Extinguisher Company. Having proven himself in this position, his father hired him as a salesman and buyer for his Atlantic Ice Company in 1911. A couple of years later young Woodruff began negotiating with Walter White, head of White Motor Company, to purchase a fleet of trucks to replace the horse-drawn delivery wagons...