W.K. Kellogg Biography

(born April 7, 1860, Battle Creek, Mich., U.S.—died Oct. 6, 1951, Battle Creek) American industrialist and philanthropist who founded (1906) the W.K. Kellogg Company to manufacture cereal products as breakfast foods. His cereals have found widespread use throughout the United States.

Kellogg established the firm after working with his brother John Harvey Kellogg, a physician who directed the Battle Creek Sanitarium, where cereal products were advocated as health foods. The company originally made only toasted cornflakes but later added other products. In 1930 Kellogg established the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which has donated large sums of money in support of efforts at social improvement, particularly programs of child welfare.