Businessman, Philanthropist. He was the CEO and business executive of the H.J. Heinz Company, founded by his grandfather Henry J. Heinz in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania he received his education at Choate Rosemary Hall, a private college-preparatory school in Wallingford, Connecticut and graduated from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut and Oxford University in Oxford, England. In 1941 he became president and CEO of the H.J. Heinz Company after the death of his father, Howard Covode Heinz. During World War II the Heinz plant in Pittsburgh was converted to producing gliders in support of the war effort and frequently assisted with food shortages in England during this time. Additionally, he became chairman of the United War Fund, and after World War II he served as chairman of the Community Chest, which later became the United Way. From 1948 until 1951 he chaired the US arm of the International Chamber of Commerce. He teamed up with financier Richard King Mellon and Pittsburgh Mayor David Lawrence for Renaissance I, a plan to usher modernity to Pittsburgh, which included smoke-control ordinances to clear the air of smoke and soot from the steel mills. In the 1950s he was appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to head a special aid mission to assess the effectiveness of an emergency economic aid program to Pakistan. From 1958 to 1959 he also chaired the US delegation to a Economic Commission for Europe and was a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group, a private organization of political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia, and the media whose aim was to promote a better understanding between the cultures of the US and Western Europe. He was the driving force for the creation of downtown Pittsburgh's Cultural District, a major legacy of his work as a philanthropist and community leader. He was the first chairman of the Howard Heinz Endowment serving from 1941 until his death. As H.J. Heinz president, he started subsidiaries in the Netherlands, Portugal, Venezuela, Japan, and Italy and acquired Star-Kist and Ore-Ida Foods. In 1966 he resigned as president and CEO but continued to serve as chairman of the board until his death. In 1979 he was made an Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for his significant contribution in the furtherance of British-American relationships in the cultural, educational, and economic fields. He died of cancer at the family's winter home in Hobe Sound, Florida at the age of 78. He was the father of Henry John Heinz III, a Republican member of the US House of Representatives and US Senate.