Entrepreneur. He gained worldwide recognition as the co-inventor of M&M's. M&M's are milk chocolate candies, which were originally released in 1941 as a familiar brown bag of round-shaped candy with a hard sugar-coating in primary colors. As the years passed, peanut centers were added in 1954 and dark chocolate centers in 2005, as well as a kaleidoscope of 21 colors and a host of shapes. In 1954, the slogan "It melts in your mouth, not in your hands" was introduced. The logo "M" was printed on each piece of candy, first in black and then white. Television commercials featured ads of animated walking and talking M&M's jumping into a swimming pool of chocolate in 1954 to the famous fainting Santa in the Christmas of 1996 ad. The standard 1.68 oz bag contains about 57 M&Ms. Born the son of Mars candy company founder Franklin C. Mars, he left the family business after a dispute with his father and established his own company, Forrest Mars Food Manufacturers. In 1932, he relocated to England, producing Mars candies, where he first saw a pellet-type hard-covered chocolate candy. After returning to the United States, he invented and patented a candy-coated, non-melting chocolate in 1940. Under a partnership with Bruce Murrie, son of a Hershey's Chocolate executive, the candy was first manufactured on March 3, 1941, as M&M's. The name "M&M" stands for "Mars & Murrie." His partner furnished Hershey's chocolate during the rationing of World War II. He purchased Murrie's 20% of their company in 1948. After his father's death, he took over Mars, Inc. and merged it with his own company, successfully managing the company until he retired in 1973. At the time of his death, he was one of the richest persons in the United States, with an estimated net worth of $4 billion. At that point, his sons Forrest, Jr. and John became CEO of the Mars Company. The Mars Company, which still manufactures M&M's as well as Mars bars, Three Musketeers, Milky Way bars, Skittles, Snickers, Twix, and a few other confections, is still privately owned by the Mars family and is the largest chocolate and candy company in the world. Hershey's chocolates and the Cadbury Easter eggs remain their top business rivals.