Meet the Mars family, heirs to the Snickers and M&M's candy empire, who avoided the limelight for years

The Mars family's $117 billion fortune is rooted in its family-owned candy empire, Mars Inc.

Founder Frank Mars had polio at a young age and so was unable to walk to school; while home, he learned from his mother, Elva, how to hand-dip chocolates and, in 1911, he began selling candy from his kitchen in Tacoma, Washington, according to Mars' website.

In 1902, Mars married schoolteacher Ethel G. Kissack. During the Depression, they became "social luminaries," boasting a $20,000 Deusenberg town car and two getaway homes in Wisconsin and Tennessee, according to a 2008 article in Washingtonian.

They also opened their Tennessee getaway home, the Milky Way Farms Racing Stables, to the public for fundraisers and public events. Ethel's horse won the Kentucky Derby in 1940, securing her "station in mint-julep society," Washingtonian reported.

Mars' son, Forrest Sr., joined the company in 1929.

They made the first chocolate nougat, setting the foundation for Milky Way Bars and Snickers. Forrest Sr. fell out with his father; in 1932, he was given the recipe for the Milky Way to start his own business, and he moved to England to do so.

Since then, the company has become known for the eponymous Mars Bar (at least in the UK) as well as 3 Musketeers, Twix, and M&Ms. More than 400 million M&Ms are produced in the US every day.

In 2008, Mars Inc. branched out from chocolate to gum when it acquired the Wrigley Jr. Company for $23 billion.

Besides confectionary brands, the company also owns food brands like Seeds of Change and Ben's Original, formerly Uncle Ben's.

In 2023, a bombshell CBS News article reported that Mars was using cocoa beans harvested by children as young as 5 in Ghana in order to make its chocolate products. 

A Mars company spokesperson told CBS in a statement at the time, "We condemn the use of child labor. Despite our requests, CBS did not provide specific details of their investigation to Mars ahead of time in order for us to investigate claims of misconduct at the time of this report. We treat any claim of misconduct in our supply chain very seriously and we will thoroughly investigate once we have the necessary information and take appropriate action."

Though the Mars name is most associated with candy, pet food is also a large part of the family business.

Mars' prominent position in pet food began with the 1935 acquisition of a British dog food firm, Chappel Bros. The company bought Iams and two other pet food brands in 2014 from Procter & Gamble for close to $2.9 billion.

Today, Mars is a dominant force in both pet food and veterinary medicine, as the owner of major food brands Pedigree, Whiskas, and Royal Canin, and some of the biggest private American chains of veterinary hospitals, Banfield and VCA.

Unlike his parents, Forrest Sr. was relatively frugal. He raised his children the same way — while they attended exclusive boarding schools, they did chores at home to earn an allowance.

However, he did buy a 740-acre farm in Virginia in the 1940s, though he and his wife, Audrey, lived apart for a lot of their marriage (she kept a penthouse apartment at The Watergate), according to Washingtonian.

Forrest Sr. has been described as having an "extreme temper," but was separately praised as "one of this century's most brilliant and successful entrepreneurs" by Fortune magazine in 1984.

"He was an iconic leader — dedicated and highly respected," a Mars spokesperson previously told Business Insider.

 

When Forrest Sr. died in 1999, his children — Jacqueline, John, and Forrest Mars Jr. — inherited a stake in the company.

Currently, 84-year-old Jacqueline and 88-year-old John co-own — but don't actively manage — Mars Inc. They have the biggest share of the family fortune. Each has an estimated net worth of $46.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 

Forbes' 2024 list of the richest person in every state identified Jacqueline as the richest person in Virginia and John as the richest person in Wyoming.

Jacqueline is the only sibling with a lifestyle "close to reflecting her billionaire status," Washingtonian reported.

Like her family, Jacqueline maintains her privacy.

But, even so, Washingtonian reported in 2008 that she reportedly listed her estate in New Jersey for $2 million and maintains her mother's Watergate penthouse. She also reportedly has a place called Stonehall Farm in Virginia, where she breeds horses. She initially had broodmares in Ireland before moving the operation to the farm in 2005.

In 2013, Jacqueline was involved in a car crash in Loudon County. She was driving her Porsche SUV "when her vehicle crossed the center line and hit an eastbound minivan," according to authorities, reported the Washington Post.

"According to authorities, Mars told a witness who went to the scene of the accident that she had fallen asleep while driving," wrote Caitlin Gibson of The Washington Post. "Tests revealed no trace of drugs, alcohol, or medications that could have caused a blackout ... Witnesses said that Mars was not speeding or driving erratically before the accident."

The driver of the other car lost her unborn son, a passenger died, and other passengers were injured. The victims urged the court not to seek jail time for Jacqueline, who pleaded guilty. She was ordered to pay a $2,500 fine.

"I can't go back in time. I can't change what happened," Mars, who planned to help the family, said in a statement. "I will always live with the grief and loss caused by this tragedy."

Jacqueline and her ex-husband David Badger have three children. Their son, Stephen Badger, previously was chairman of Mars Inc.

Stephen Badger served twice as chairman of the Mars Inc board of directors, with his most recent rotation from 2017 to 2020.

He told Business Insider in 2018 that in recent years, the company started to open up about its business to appeal to consumers and talent.

"For most of our history, in fact ... for 99% of our history, we've chosen not to be in the public eye and we've really wanted our brands to engage consumers. And yet times have changed," Badger said. "Consumers do want to know more about not only the brands that they're buying, but the company that is behind them."

Today, he's a partner at The March Group.

Not much is known about Jacqueline's brother John, but in March 2015, he was made an honorary knight by Queen Elizabeth II.

Both John and Forrest Jr. inherited their father's tendency to avoid the spotlight. And their father's frugal ways stuck with them: Both brothers reportedly lived in relatively affordable condos.

"When I was growing up it felt very normal," Forrest Jr.'s daughter, Pamela Mars, told Campden FB, which covers family businesses and family offices, in a since-deleted interview. "I didn't feel different to anybody else. We did chores around the house, we went to school. We didn't live a different lifestyle to any of my friends."

Forrest Mars Jr. died in 2016 at the age of 84, leaving his stake to be split among his four daughters: Victoria Mars, Marijke Mars, Valerie Mars, and Pamela Mars-Wright.

Each of his daughters has an estimated net worth of $11.6 billion, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.

Victoria is a former chair of the board of directors of Mars Inc. A spokesperson for Mars previously told BI that there are six rotating positions on the board.

Growing up, Pamela lived in Holland and France for several years before moving back to the US for her father's various Mars Inc. jobs. After graduating from Vassar College and a stint working in advertising, Pamela joined the family business as an operations supervisor. She moved up the ranks, and after a sabbatical, became chairman of the board, a position from which she later stepped down.

Valerie and Marijke have both worked at Mars and served on the company's board of directors.

For years, the family was known for being "notoriously private," keeping their personal lives and Mars Inc. out of the public eye.

The company's secrecy dates back to when Forrest Sr. patented the method for Ben's Original rice and American military chiefs tried to overturn the patent to supply troops, but Forrest refused, and the war came to an end before he could be forced to share his patents, per Washingtonian.

Forrest Sr. avoided photographers and interviews alike, and the company and family more broadly "have turned secrecy into a way of life," the Washingtonian reported.

Morningstar food analyst Mitchell Howard called Mars a "very, very quiet company."

Nicknamed "the Kremlin," the Mars Inc. headquarters are based in the Virginia suburbs and have been described as "secretive" and "anonymous," according to a 2008 article in The Guardian.

The company has been criticized for not giving enough, especially as one of the largest private companies in the US. Mars Inc. says it makes anonymous contributions.

In 2012, they donated $5 million to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History for renovations and a new gallery bearing their name.

In 2012, Jacqueline Mars received the first-ever Foundation for the National Archives' "Heritage Award," for her support of the National Archives and other arts and cultural institutions in Washington, DC.

The US Equestrian Team Foundation, of which she is an honorary life trustee, also gives Jacqueline B. Mars National Competition and Training Grant awards each year. These grants "provide training and competition resources for U.S. athletes who have never competed on an Eventing Olympics or FEI World Championships Team and have earned, via results and potential, the opportunity to travel to another part of the country to compete," according to the foundation.

Jacqueline also played a role merging the Opera with John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and made a multi-year commitment to support the Washington Performing Arts' programs.

"The family has always believed that the biggest contribution toward the world we want tomorrow is through the good that Mars, Inc. can do every day, and the family reinvests the vast majority of any profit made back into the company," a company spokesperson previously told BI.

In 2017, the company made a $1 billion investment in a sustainability program that will contribute to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. It also donated $26 million in pandemic relief to communities most affected by the crisis.

The Mars Wrigley Foundation supports educational and health-related causes by "providing oral health education and care, improving lives in mint and cocoa-growing regions, and creating resilient and vibrant communities," according to its website.

While the Mars family has remained private over the years, it's helped them keep their anonymity, Joseph Astrachan, an expert in family enterprises, told The Guardian.

But one thing will always remain private: the company itself.

"The philosophy of the family and the philosophy of the business is that it's a family business," Pamela Mars previously told Campden FB. "More importantly, it's a privately held business and that's the way that we'd like to keep it."