The Good Provider

H J Heinz is best known today for the labels on his condiments and for his descendant's relatively unpredictable widow, currently the wife of the unsuccessful Presidential hopeful John Kerry. But in his day, in and around Sharpsburg PA, Heinz was known as a man so utterly trustworthy that when his first (and initially successful) horseradish business went belly up, he paid all of his creditors in full. It took years. But it was a matter of principle. As this book shows, Heinz is one of two well known Pittsburgh business marvels who also had what we will call a life of conscience and community concern. George Westinghouse being the other. Yes, there are many other less-well known Pittsburghers of that era who also had a compassion for others and a desire to serve; Robert Pitcairn and William Penn Snyder, for instance. But we will not mention the two best-known steel barons. They had a different agenda altogether. So, read this if you are wondering if great business success and goodness can co-exist. They can. They did. In H J Heinz.