Jack Lupton, 83, chairman of Coke's largest bottler when it accounted for about 15% of Coke's U.S. soft-drink sales
Hoodoo
MAY 18, 2010
By STEPHEN MILLER
http://online.wsj.com/article
/SB10001424052748704314904575250734167634208.html
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Coke bottler Jack Lupton snapped up businesses across the country.
In 1889, a Chattanooga, Tenn., investor named John T. Lupton teamed up
with a pair of lawyers who had recently paid $1 for the right to sell
Coca-Cola in bottles. Almost a century later, Mr. Lupton's grandson Jack
Lupton sold his family's bottling operation to Coke for $1.4 billion.
Jack Lupton, who died Sunday at 83, was chairman of Coke's largest
bottler at the time he sold JTL Corp. to Coca-Cola Co., in 1986, when it
accounted for about 15% of Coke's U.S. soft-drink sales.
Mr. Lupton grew rich and helped finance developments in Chattanooga that
have in recent decades transformed the city from a blighted factory town
to one that has won national awards for "livability."
The sale of JTL was the first step in the creation of Coca-Cola
Enterprises Inc., in which Coke rolled up several major bottlers and
then floated them in a 1986 initial public offering valued at $1.5
billion, the largest U.S. IPO at that time. Coke paid $12 billion this
February for the majority of CCE's North American operations, which
represent 75% of Coke's sales in the U.S. and Canada.
Born in Chattanooga, Mr. Lupton served in the Navy during World War II
and worked briefly in the textile industry. In 1946, he started as a
loader of the bottle-washing machine at a Coke bottling plant in Macon,
Ga. He eventually joined his father in managing the family-owned
business. He sat on the Coca-Cola board from 1956 to 1982.
At his father's death in 1977, Mr. Lupton became chairman of JTL. Over
the next decade, he quadrupled the business by acquiring bottlers in
Florida, Texas and elsewhere.
"He was one of the early people in the process of consolidation in the
bottling industry," said John Sicher, publisher of Beverage Digest.
When JTL was sold, Mr. Lupton said he was a candidate for chairman of
Coca-Cola Enterprises. When that failed to materialize, he set his
sights on civic improvement.
The rail center that had inspired bandleader Glenn Miller to celebrate
the "Chattanooga Choo Choo" had become a city with a reputation for
filth, and in 1966 the U.S. Public Health Service declared it had the
third-worst air in the nation. Mr. Lupton's leadership on a waterfront
project and an aquarium, which opened in 1992 as the largest freshwater
aquarium in the world, contributed to the renewal.
An enthusiastic golfer who in the 1990s was chairman of the Arnold
Palmer Golf Co., Mr. Lupton also helped finance the Honors Course, near
Chattanooga, that has appeared in national magazine rankings of top
courses. No stranger to rankings himself, he was a regular for decades
on the Forbes list of 400 richest Americans.
Occasionally profane and always direct, Mr. Lupton gave few interviews,
but when he did he got to the point about his plans for his hometown.
"You don't want to be in Atlanta�God, the most unmanageable damn place
in the world," he said in a 1986 interview with the Chattanooga Times.
"He was the chief catalyst, the greatest cheerleader Chattanooga had,"
said Mayor Ron Littlefield. "He believed the city could be resurrected.
Now we tell people with honesty and certainty that we believe that it's
the most transformed city in America."
--
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Hoodoo
posted May 17, 2010
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_175849.asp
The passing of Jack Lupton this week marks a new era in the history of
Chattanooga. The baton of leadership has been passed.
The Lupton name, Chattanooga's most powerful and wealthiest during the
20th Century, is all but gone with the passing of Jack and the recent
passing of his cousin, Tommy Lupton (half second cousin, to be exact).
Tommy's brother, Fred, remains in Chattanooga, but, to my knowledge,
none of their generation has a name bearer remaining in our city.
Jack's grandfather, John T. Lupton, bought the rights to bottle
Coca-Cola from Joe Whitehead, very soon after Whitehead and Ben Thomas
secured the bottling rights for Coke in 1899 from owner Asa Candler in
Atlanta. Soon, Lupton was choosing friends and relatives to become
millionaires across the country by being given bottling plants, or "a
license to print money" as some later called it. Meanwhile, Lupton, as a
"parent bottler" was becoming one of the richest men in American
history. His Lyndhurst mansion in Riverview boasted 34,000 square feet,
10 beds, 12 baths, an indoor pool, bowling alley, and pipe organ. J.T.
Lupton's son, Cartter, died in 1977, and his probated will revealed an
estate worth hundreds of millions, exceeding the estate of Howard
Hughes, probated the same year.
Cartter's son, Jack, grew the bottling enterprise into an even greater
empire, selling for $1.4 billion in 1986. But his signature achievement
proved to be his vision and philanthropy for the city. "I love
Chattanooga. I desperately love Chattanooga," he said the same year his
family pocketed over a billion dollars. He then backed up his claim with
hundreds of millions of dollars given and raised for the city,
contributing to a community renaissance celebrated worldwide as a model
for civic transformation.
Jack Lupton was a great but complex man. In several ways he appeared a
paradox. He could be fairly accused of being an elitist, developing one
of the greatest and most exclusive clubs in the world, the Honors
Course. At the same time, he determined to operate differently than his
father and that generation by implementing structures to greatly expand
the decision makers in the community through vehicles like Chattanooga
Venture, Vision 2000 and ReVision 2000. A direct line can arguably be
drawn from Chattanooga STAND's recent survey of over 25,000 citizens for
advice on how to shape the city's future to the visionary leadership of
Jack Lupton.
Ironically, Jack Lupton was the man most accused of using a handful of
power structure figures to control the city.
And there may be some truth to some to the accusations. Judge Walter
Williams tells the story of Jack making a single phone call to quell one
of Chattanooga's most volatile moments � near riots due to the city
commission's refusal in 1976 to name Ninth Street after Martin Luther
King, Jr. A majority of commissioners dug in to support Jack's cousin
Tommy on the issue. But then Jack read a headline while vacationing in
Monterey, Calif., "Lupton in Chattanooga Fights Renaming of Street in
Honor of M.L. King." It didn't say Tommy Lupton, just Lupton, so,
according to Judge Williams, Jack decided to put an end to it. "He made
one call to city hall," said Judge Williams, who noted that thousands of
people were marching and protesting and failing to sway the city
commission. "One call. That is a true story."
On the other hand, Congressman Zach Wamp said the legend of Lupton as
kingmaker, anointing elected officials, was urban myth. "My experience
was exactly the opposite of that," Zach said. He did not know Lupton and
other such notables when he first ran for Congress. "I had to work
really hard even to get their attention."
Lupton is also an enigma in that he is credited, and rightly so, for
leading the renaissance of Chattanooga � by such authorities as the
Tennessee Encylcopedia of History and Culture. Yet his own
brother-in-law criticized him for getting to the game too late, after
serious efforts began in the sixties and seventies to clean up the
pollution. "He should have started sooner," said Scotty Probasco. "He
was just slow getting there. When he got there, he came on the scene
strong."
The enigmatic nature of Jack Lupton was best summed up by former
Chattanooga Times publisher Paul Neely, one of the few people to ever
dare to assess the man. "Depending on the view, he can be gentle,
modest, courtly, and reflective. He can also be rude, domineering,
profane, and impatient."
His profane streak may have been foreshadowed by a section of plaster
crashing onto the "Lupton pew" from the ceiling of the First
Presbyterian Church in 1966. Around that time, Jack Lupton began his own
journey away from the conservative Presbyterianism of his forefathers to
a worldview less dogmatic and more secular. "Jack Lupton was able to
impossibly, perversely enjoy cutting against the grain," said Rick
Montague, who served as Lupton's first executive director of the
Lyndhurst Foundation, the entity claimed by many to be most responsible
for Chattanooga's transformation. Formerly called the Memorial
Foundation, and chaired by First Pres pastor Dr. James Fowle, Jack
Lupton changed the name, the focus, the mission, and the recipients.
This philosophical change had an immeasurable impact on the future of
Chattanooga.
The fading of the Lupton name reflects the diluted influence of many
great families in Chattanooga, due to both fewer family members
themselves as well as the fact most of these families no longer own the
great companies that made them wealthy. But I would dare to suggest that
Jack Lupton would want this announcement of a new era in Chattanooga to
inspire hundreds, even thousands of citizens to step up to the plate to
provide great leadership for a great city. In his father's day, it could
have been argued that a handful of the captains of industry made up the
lion's share of city leadership. Jack Lupton spent years expanding that
pool of leadership to scores, even a few hundred of citizens willing to
be active in the new public forums to shape the city.
Today, the pool is available to several hundred, even thousands of those
committed to work, sacrifice, engage, dialogue, and create vision for
Chattanooga. You do not need a prominent last name. Wealth is not a
requirement. Race and gender are not in the way. May the passing of one
of the great men in Chattanooga's history inspire us all to seize this
great opportunity. The baton has been passed to all of us.
Dean W. Arnold
Hoodoo
Lupton legacy
By: Dave Flessner
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/may/18/lupton-legacya/
TimesFreePress Audio
Jack Lupton appeared before the Hamilton County Commission in December
1985 to serve as a �cheerleader� for a public/private effort that would
encourage riverfront development and other steps to make Chattanooga the
best mid-sized city in America.
[javascript link to] - Download MP3 -
From Chattanooga's signature aquarium on the downtown waterfront to the
exclusive Honors Course in Ooltewah, John T. "Jack" Lupton left his mark
across his hometown over the past two decades.
The Lookout Mountain philanthropist who once headed Coca-Cola's biggest
bottling empire died Sunday at age 83. But those who worked with Mr.
Lupton said Monday the legacy of how he used his family's fortune will
live on.
"I don't think there is any doubt that what we have called the
renaissance of Chattanooga came about because Jack Lupton made a
decision that he wanted to invest in changing this community, and he
really did," said former Chattanooga City Council member Mai Bell
Hurley, a longtime civic leader and fundraiser who worked on
Lupton-backed projects such as Chattanooga Venture, Chattanooga
Neighborhood Enterprise and the RiverCity Co. "Beyond the aquarium and
other facilities he helped to get built, his biggest legacy may be how
he changed the spirit of our city."
After selling his Coca-Cola bottling business for $1.2 billion in 1986,
Mr. Lupton turned his attention to helping rebuild Chattanooga after the
city's economic and population downturn in the early 1980s.
Spurred by ideas from a task force headed by his then-son-in-law Rick
Montague, Mr. Lupton helped lead an effort to revitalize downtown and
the waterfront. After meeting with then-Gov. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.,
initial plans for a $5 million aquarium on the waterfront quickly grew
into what became the world's largest freshwater aquarium.
"Jack Lupton had big ideas for Chattanooga and for Tennessee, and his
remarkable generosity helped make those dreams come true," now-U.S. Sen.
Alexander said Monday.
When critics objected to public funding for the $45 million project they
derided as "Jack's fish tank," Mr. Lupton led the campaign to fund the
aquarium entirely from private donations, including more than $20
million from his own family and the Lyndhurst Foundation started by his
father.
Reshaping downtown
"The aquarium was really the beginning of the re-creation of downtown,"
said former Chattanooga Times Chairwoman Ruth Holmberg, one of dozens of
community and business leaders Mr. Lupton encouraged to invest in the
Tennessee Aquarium.
Since opening in 1992, the aquarium has won accolades as one of the
nation's best such facilities and drawn more than 1 million visitors to
downtown Chattanooga every year. It has helped spawn nearly $1 billion
in private and public investment in downtown Chattanooga and along the
Tennessee River's banks here, including the Creative Discovery Museum,
Coolidge and Renaissance parks, the Tennessee Riverwalk, a Visitors
Center, the $300 million corporate campus for BlueCross BlueShield and
more than $250 million in new hotels, condominiums, movie theaters and
restaurants.
Mr. Lupton's Lyndhurst Foundation also helped pave the way for what
became the Riverbend Festival by paying for a B.B. King outdoor concert
as part of "Five Nights in Chattanooga." The downtown festival became an
annual tradition and later moved to the riverfront as Riverbend.
Behind the scenes, the Lookout Mountain resident also used his influence
to help support several black churches and projects and even led an
effort to change the name of Ninth Street to honor Martin Luther King Jr.
Despite opposition from former Public Works Commissioner Paul Clark and
Mr. Lupton's own cousin, Stone Fort Land Co. President T.A. Lupton Jr.,
Jack Lupton convinced the City Council to change the name of the
downtown thoroughfare.
Napoleon "Donut" Williams, a retired Chattanooga police officer who knew
Mr. Lupton from the days he worked as a waiter at the Fairyland Club
atop Lookout Mountain, said Mr. Lupton "could make things happen."
Lupton's 'Committee'
Share your memories and photos of Jack Lupton by e-mailing them to
webe...@timesfreepress.com.
The force of Mr. Lupton's personality and wealth also is evidenced at
The Honors Course carved out of more than 400 acres of farmland in
Ooltewah. The prestigious golf course has been recognized by Golf Digest
magazine as the 35th best course in America -- and perhaps the best
devoted to amateur golf.
In the clubhouse at The Honors Course, Mr. Lupton's leadership is
displayed in an artwork titled, "The Committee." Nine men are pictured
around a boardroom table, and on each body is the face of Jack Lupton.
The drawing leaves little doubt about who controls the golf course,
although others have served as its chairman.
Bill Sudderth, a longtime friend and partner with Mr. Lupton in the
Chattanooga Land Co., said Mr. Lupton "had a strong personality" and
often was impatient for results.
"He wanted the best, and I think he established a quality standard for
Chattanooga to live up to," Mr. Sudderth said.
But Mr. Sudderth and others noted that Mr. Lupton also was eager to
involve others in community endeavors. His group backed the Moccasin
Bend Task Force and Chattanooga Venture in the 1980s to help the
community collectively decide on its priorities.
In 1995, Mr. Lupton appeared before the Hamilton County Commission and
pledged to support what community leaders determined would benefit
Chattanooga. He called his role that of a "cheerleader" and "a pump primer."
But as a donor, he wanted to pursue specific goals, not just fund
projects and agencies.
Mrs. Holmberg said Mr. Lupton helped reshape the way local foundations
spend their money.
"A lot of foundations in the past were reactive," she said. "People
would come to them and ask for money. But now they are proactive to have
a vision and to fund it."
Changing the formula
For all his drive and determination, Mr. Lupton acknowledged he made
some mistakes in business. In his passion for golf, he unsuccessfully
invested in trying to save the Arnold Palmer Golf Co. and its successor,
ProGroup.
The Coca-Cola magnate, whose grandfather was one of the world's first
Coke bottlers, also admitted he was wrong about changing the formula and
taste of one of America's best-known brands.
Mr. Lupton was one of the few bottlers to hold a seat on the board of
directors for the Coca-Cola Co., the Atlanta-based firm that makes the
syrup sold to independent bottlers. The bottler's size and board seat
got the attention of Coca-Cola management -- especially when a study
found that consumers surveyed around Lupton's Phoenix plant said they
preferred the taste of Pepsi.
At the urging of Mr. Lupton, Coca-Cola conducted a nationwide survey and
changed the formula of Coca-Cola for one of the few times in its history
in the 1980s. But the new Coke fizzled, and consumers demanded that the
original -- then dubbed Coke Classic -- return.
"I've got to plead guilty," Mr. Lupton said in a 1999 interview about
how the New Coke he pushed met with such consumer resistance. "If there
was ever a fast and quick exit of getting out of Dodge, this was it."
But true to his Midas touch, the publicity over Coke changing its
formula -- and bringing back the original Coke -- ended up boosting
sales for the soft-drink giant.
"He was willing to take risks and, fortunately for Chattanooga, most of
those have been winners," said Charles Arant, president of the Tennessee
Aquarium.
Links on webpage:
Article: Lupton Legacy
Article: The Lupton Legacy, Quotes and Personal
Slideshow: Jack Lupton
Article: Jack Lupton obituary
PDF: Newspaper archives on John T. �Jack� Lupton
Free Press: John T. 'Jack' Lupton
Times: John T. 'Jack' Lupton
Article: Letters to the Editors for May 18, 2010
PDF: Jack Lupton 1985 Addressing County Commission Minutes
Wiedmer: Lupton�s saw value of Lookouts
Article: Jack Lupton, philanthropist, civic leader, dies
Video: The Tennessee Aquarium celebrates 18 years
Article: Local families have Coke connection
Article: Trail of a power broker
Article: Tax credit program involves Lupton
Article: Honors celebration: Lupton's golf eden turns 25
Article: Lupton event continues to grow
Article: Lupton family, Lyndhurst Foundation honored at History Makers