Business View Magazine - September 2016 19
“Forrest was a great inspiration to all of us at Mars, In-
corporated,” said Grant F. Reid, CEO and Office of the
President for Mars, Incorporated. “He was instrumental
in building our business, while remaining committed to
the founding principles of the Company. Forrest will be
sorely missed, but his contributions and the legacy he
leaves behind at Mars will be long-lasting.”
Success is not about the money you have, but the
good that you make of it.
In that regard, Forrest, Jr. supported numerous educa-
tional causes, including the Fay and Hotchkiss Schools,
the Williamsburg Foundation and Yale University. He
served on the Board of Trustees for the Colonial Wil-
liamsburg Foundation and was the recipient of their
highest honor, the Churchill Bell, for extraordinary civ-
ic leadership and national service. In 1999, he and his
brother established and permanently endowed the For-
rest E. Mars, Sr. Visiting Professorship in Ethics, Politics
and Economics at Yale University to honor their father.
The preservation of American history was a passion to
which Forrest, Jr. gave his heart – and his name. Of par-
ticular note, The Brinton Museum in Big Horn, Wyoming,
where he was Chairman of the Board, and made pos-
sible the museum’s state-of the-art Forrest E. Mars, Jr.
Building.
As a champion of nature, he contributed not only his
sage advice, but also generous financial gifts to worthy
environmental causes. Sean Gerrity, President of Ameri-
can Prairie Reserve, spent much time with Forrest, Jr.,
discussing the vision and possibilities for this ambitious
wildlife conservation project in northeastern Montana,
and receiving rare personal insight into the brilliant busi-
ness acumen for which the Mars mogul was famous.
Gerrity notes, “Forrest liked the idea of all the wildlife we
proposed to bring back to the prairie. Yet, I think the main
thing that resonated with him was that the Reserve, as
a concept, is big, bold, audacious and visionary, but the
steps are well thought out and very achievable if care-
fully executed over time. He liked backing big things that
have the potential to benefit a lot of people. I think he
believed that Mars Corp. and American Prairie Reserve
had that attribute in common.”
Forrest, Jr. traveled the world on his ship, the Dione
Skye, with friends, family, and a steady stream of guests;
always recording their adventures in a daily diary. Excur-
sions through the Panama Canal, the Baltic Sea, and
Canada’s Northwest Passage were a source of sheer
joy and fueled his passion for living large. According to
Gerrity, Forrest had a simple unspoken motto that es-
sentially sums up his legacy of success – “Get a big
idea, figure out how to mitigate the risks, and then move
forward.”
