Horace Hagedorn

Horace Hagedorn was born on March 18, 1915, in Manhattan, New York. He obtained a degree from the University of Pennsylvania in business, later selling radio advertising.[1]

Miracle-Gro, a water-soluble fertilizer, was developed after Hagedorn met nurseryman Otto Stern and learned of Stern's troubles shipping plants in 1944.[1][2][3] The pair hired O. Wesley Davidson, a Rutgers University professor to develop the fertilizer.[1] Hagedorn used royalties from producing a crime-drama "The Big Story" to fund the company.[2] In 1950, the company was formed after his wife Peggy named the product.[1][4] He is largely credited with the success of the company due to the nature of his effective marketing – employing advertisements in differing medias and working with emerging hardware chains.[1] Hagedorn, however, credits being at the right place at the right time for the success of the company. In 1963, he became the company's first full time salesman.[2] In 1995, the company merged with Scotts for $200 million in stock, with Hagedorn as the majority investor. The merger created the world's largest maker of lawn and garden products.[1][5] He retired from Miracle-Gro in 1997.[6]

In later life, he donated large sums of money to various charities, particularly those dealing with children.[1][7] In 2000, he gave $45 million to the Long Island Community Foundation, funded a cleft palate clinic at North Shore University Hospital, and underwrote the Miracle-Gro Kids program.[8]

The School of Business at Adelphi University and the School of Education at Hofstra University are both named after him.[1]

He died on January 31, 2005, in Sands Point, New York, of pulmonary fibrosis.[1] His second wife, Amy, founded the Hagedorn Foundation in 2005.[9]

• The Horace Hagedorn Foundation