After the War he was living in Philadelphia but in 1946 returned to his native Lexington where he founded W. T. Young Foods, Inc. that made "Big Top" brand peanut butter. He developed the business into one of the leading producers of peanut butter in the United States. After he sold the company to Procter & Gamble in 1955, it was renamed Jif peanut butter. William Young continued to manage the peanut butter manufacturing operation for Procter & Gamble until 1957, at which time he founded W. T. Young Storage, Inc.
William Young joined the board of directors of Royal Crown Cola and served as its chairman from 1966 to 1984.[2] He was also a director the Kentucky-American Water Company, and the First Security National Bank and Trust Company of Lexington. At one time, William Young was the single largest shareholder of Humana health insurance company.[3] Through the 1960s and early 1970s, he served on the board of directors of Kentucky Fried Chicken with CEO John Y. Brown Jr. When Brown was elected governor of Kentucky in December 1979, he chose Young as chairman of the executive cabinet. Young also served as chairman of the Kentucky Economic Development Corporation, a private organization aimed at boosting economic development in the state. Brooke
Overbrook Farm
In 1972 William Young established Overbrook Farm near Lexington, Kentucky. In 1983 he bred Storm Cat, the most important horse of his career.[4] Storm Cat went on to become one of the world's highest priced sires and almost entirely responsible for William Young being voted the 1994 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder.[4]
On June 9, 2009, William Young Jr., who assumed control of the Overbrook operation upon the death of his father, announced that his family would be selling the majority of their bloodstock.[8] During the next few months Overbrook sold off its resident stallions then in September sold 48 yearlings for $6,644,000 and in November sold 148 horses for $31,760,000 [9] including Honest Pursuit, a daughter of Storm Cat who sold for $3.1 million to Wertheimer et Frère.[10]
Philanthropy
Young was a community leader in such organizations as the YMCA, Junior Achievement, Spindletop Research, the Red Cross, and the Cancer Drive. He was a University of Kentucky trustee and donated $5 million of his own money while helping raise additional funds to build a new library at the University of Kentucky that would be named the William T. Young Library in his honor. He further created a book endowment and campaigned for donations to fund it. At the time of his death the endowment was the largest of its kind in the United States.[11] William Young was inducted into the College of Engineering Hall of Distinction in 1992. Appointed to the board of trustees of Transylvania University in 1967, he served as its chairman for twenty-three years from 1977 to 2000 and was a most important figure in the university's expansion and betterment.
[12]
In 1985, William Young joined the board of historic Shakertown near Lexington and was appointed its chairman in 1990. In that role, he was instrumental in raising funds for important renovations needed to increase visitor revenues and as well he set up a program to insure the village's financial stability.[13]
Overall, William Young donated more than $60 million to various causes.
[3]
His wife, the former Lucy Hilton Maddox, died in 2002 and he died in 2004.[14][15] He was survived by a son, William T. Young Jr., and daughter, Lucy Young Hamilton.[16]
^Parrish, Thomas D. Restoring Shakertown: the struggle to save the historic Shaker village of Pleasant Hill, (2005) University Press of Kentucky ISBN978-0-8131-2364-6
