Clay Mathile, who purchased pet food company Iams in the early 1980s and catapulted it on a trajectory of immense growth, died last weekend at the age of 82, according to news reports.
Mathile joined Iams as one of its first employees in 1970 after working as an accountant at the Campbell Soup Co. Mathile and his wife became the sole owners of the company, and he became CEO, in 1982 when founder Paul F. Iams retired. That year, Iams recorded just $13 million in sales. Over the next 17 years, Iams exploded in size, and the firm was acquired by Procter & Gamble in 1999 from Mathile for $2.3 billion, with approximately $800 million in sales at the time. After selling Iams to P&G, Mathile disbursed to his employees $100 million of his profit from the sale.
In 2014, Iams was sold by P&G to Mars Petcare along with other pet food brands, for $2.9 billion — and Iams remains a part of the Mars Petcare portfolio today.
Outside the pet food business, Mathile then dedicated himself to philanthropy, spending $130 million in 2008 to found Aileron, a Dayton, Ohio-based management-training school for small business owners. He and his wife also founded The Mathile Family Foundation and donated more than $500 million to projects, foundations and organizations.
