Woodruff Arts Center by Jonathan Banks

About | Robert W. Woodruff

Robert W. Woodruff

Robert Winship Woodruff was a remarkable businessman and philanthropist. He became president of The Coca-Cola Company in 1923 and guided it until his death in 1985, helping to shape the company from a local soft drink business into the world’s best-known brand.

Mr. Woodruff was not only dedicated to The Coca-Cola Company, but also to his friends, business associates and community. He remembered hundreds of friends’ birthdays each year with the gift of a rose in a Coca-Cola bottle, and his life is filled with stories of large and small acts of generosity.
 
In civic life, Mr. Woodruff preferred to remain in the background, making anonymous gifts that greatly enriched his hometown of Atlanta. His philanthropy focused on transforming the small, bustling railroad town into a world-class city, and he made significant gifts to Atlanta’s health, educational and cultural institutions.
 
Whatever the gift, Mr. Woodruff believed in giving quietly. On his desk sat a quote embodying his life’s creed: “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.”

Timeline

An old sepia-toned photograph of a woman holding a young child with a stained glass window in the background.

1889

1889

Robert Winship Woodruff is born to Emily and Ernest Woodruff. They name him for his maternal grandfather Robert Winship, who runs the Winship Machine Company. Ernest is a successful businessman who leads the Trust Company of Georgia, a predecessor to Truist Bank. Robert grows up in Atlanta and dreams of becoming either a big game guide in the West like his hero Buffalo Bill, or a successful businessman who would “make a million dollars.”

A young man in vintage work overalls and a cap, with hands on hips, posing against a plain background.

1900s

1900s

In 1905 Robert begins attending Georgia Military Academy, which he claims is “the only place from which I ever graduated.” Ernest enrolls him in Oxford College of Emory University in 1908, but Robert is an indifferent student. He is dismissed after one semester and takes his first job at the General Pipe and Foundry Company, where he shovels sand for 60 cents a day.

A black and white photo of a man in a tuxedo and a woman in a formal dress standing in front of floral arrangements and a mirror, at a formal event or wedding.

1912

1912

Robert marries Nell Kendall Hodgson of Athens, which he calls “the most satisfying moment of my life.” Nell is committed to nursing and trains nurse’s aides during WWI as a Red Cross volunteer. During WWII, she earns the rare honor of serving as a nurse’s aide in any U.S. military hospital. Nell is the only woman to serve as a U.S. delegate to the World Health Organization in 1954 and receives a second appointment to the delegation from President Eisenhower in 1955. Emory names its nursing school the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing in 1967.

Black and white portrait of a man with light-colored hair, a mustache, and wearing a suit and tie, resting his head on his hand.

1919

1919

Ernest leads a consortium of businessmen to buy The Coca-Cola Company from Asa Candler for $25 million. Stock is sold for $40 a share. Son Robert borrows money to purchase the stock, believing the company has a future.

A vintage black and white photograph of a group of men standing on a trolley car, waving and holding hats, with a sign that reads "Incomparable White Motor Cars."

1921

1921

Robert is promoted to vice president and general sales manager of White Motor Company, where he started out selling trucks just a few years earlier. He has his first transaction with The Coca-Cola Company in the same year, selling it 30 trucks for the growing business.

A black and white photograph of a man in vintage clothing, including a suit and tie, standing next to an old-fashioned car. He is wearing a straw boater hat with a dark band, smiling and resting one hand on the car's door and the other on his knee.

1923

1923

Coca-Cola’s board offers 33-year-old Robert the job of president. The company is struggling – it owes millions of dollars and its stock has plummeted to $18 a share. Robert agrees to the job despite a steep pay cut, explaining, “I figured that if I ever brought the price of stock back to what I had paid for it, I’d sell and get even. Then I’d go back to selling cars and trucks.”

Black and white photo of three men in outdoor colonial or military attire, standing in a forest, two holding drinks. A horse harnessed to a cart with a man sitting on it is also visible.

1928

1928

An avid outdoorsman, Robert purchases a hunting reserve in southwest Georgia with friend and former employer Walter White. They call it Ichauway after Ichawaynochaway Creek, named by the Muscogee tribe for the deer (“icho”) that slept there (“anocha”). Nell and Robert visit Ichauway often to relax and entertain friends. In his will, Robert expresses the wish to maintain Ichauway as a natural preserve. After seeking counsel from scientists and naturalists, Trustees of the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation establish the Jones Center at Ichauway in 1991.

Vintage Coca-Cola advertisement featuring a large Coca-Cola logo in the center, with a man in a suit sitting on a chair in front of a stack of Coca-Cola bottles and color boxes, smiling and holding a glass of Coca-Cola.

1930s

1930s

Robert presides over the growth of The Coca-Cola Company, which flourishes under his leadership and his high standards for marketing, quality and service. The company weathers the Great Depression with rising profits every year, since “everyone has a nickel” to spend on a Coke. By the late 1930s, the brand is a household name.

A black and white photo of a man and woman standing on a lawn, with the man having his arm around the woman's shoulders. The man is wearing a white shirt and tie, and the woman is dressed in a dark suit. They are near a house with a large window and surrounded by trees and bushes.

1937

1937

Robert’s mother Emily is diagnosed with cancer. To honor her battle and his beloved grandfather (both are lost to cancer), he gives $50,000 to Emory University to open the Robert Winship Memorial Clinic, which grows into the Winship Cancer Institute.
 
To further carry out his philanthropy, Robert establishes the Trebor Foundation (“Trebor” is Robert spelled backwards). The next year, he persuades his parents to set up the Emily and Ernest Woodruff Fund.

Soldiers in military helmets and uniforms taking a break in a trench during wartime, some drinking and others holding bottles, with a Coca-Cola crate in the foreground.

1940s

1940s

When WWII leads to the rationing of sugar (a key ingredient in Coca-Cola), Robert promises to deliver five-cent Cokes to all American service personnel. Coca-Cola is exempted from the sugar ration and sets up 64 “war plants” that supply the bottled drink for soldiers in China, Europe, North Africa and the Pacific. The company expands the plants postwar: by 1968, 50% of net profits come from overseas operations, fulfilling Robert’s vision to put Coca-Cola “within an arm’s reach of desire” across the world.

Black and white photograph of a man in a suit holding a bottle, with a painting of a hand holding a bottle with a globe in the background.

1955

1955

Robert retires from The Coca-Cola Company but remains Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors. He continues to steer the company’s affairs, guiding and advising officers. He handpicks Coca-Cola’s next generation of leaders: Roberto C. Goizueta and Donald R. Keough.

Three men in suits and coats standing outside a building, engaged in conversation.

1960s

1960s

Robert continues to make invaluable contributions to Atlanta. He supports Mayors William B. Hartsfield and Ivan Allen Jr. as they work to integrate the city, and he helps ensure a successful Nobel Peace Prize dinner for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964. Philanthropic gifts help establish Emory’s Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center in 1966 and Atlanta’s Memorial Arts Center in 1967, which is renamed the Woodruff Arts Center in 1982.

An elderly man with white hair, wearing a dark suit, is seated and talking to a young woman with curly hair and hoop earrings, who is leaning over and smiling. A middle-aged man with glasses, wearing a suit and tie, stands behind the young woman, also smiling and engaging with the elderly man.

1979

1979

Robert and his brother George donate the $105 million corpus of the Emily and Ernest Woodruff Fund to Emory University in the form of three million shares of Coca-Cola stock. It is the first nine-figure gift to an institution of higher education in the country.

A group of elegantly dressed people sitting around a table at a celebration or dinner event, with a woman in the foreground smiling and clapping.

1985

1985

Robert is laid to rest in Westview Cemetery beside his wife Nell, who preceded him in 1968. Robert’s own estimation of his life can be summed up by the words of a plaque he displayed prominently in his home: “When I compare the things I’ve lost with the things I’ve gained, the things I’ve missed with what I might have attained, there is little room left for pride.”