Who is Reese?

I have seen some impressive inventions during my lifetime — iPads, DVRs, the Doppler Radar, just to name a few. But one new item has topped them all…and it is not even close.

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. That is, in fact, a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup stuffed with Reese’s Pieces. The word “stuffed” has never looked to glorious. If you ever questioned the existence of God, you can stop your pondering now. It had to be divine intervention that blessed us with such an amazing dessert.

Tasting this treat got me wondering about the original Reese. I have been a big fan of this Reese fellow for quite some time and though I greatly enjoy his work, I know nothing about him. Is it even a him? Let’s find out in today’s Wonder Why Wednesday…

Who is Reese from Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups?

If you Google “May 24, 1879” you may not find any groundbreaking results. But, what may have seemed like an otherwise slow news day at the time, would later become an important stamp on our country’s history…or at least our country’s candy bar history.

On that fateful day in York County, Pennsylvania, Harry Burnett “H. B.” Reese was born. Son of a farmer, H.B learned his father’s trade and, in 1917, moved to Hershey, Pennsylvania to work for The Hershey Company. Reese was impressed by Milton Hershey’s work and began experimenting with candies of his own.

In 1923, he started the H. B. Reese Candy Company and just five years later he created his most popular product, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

H.B. Reese died on May 16, 1956, leaving the company to his six sons. In 1963, the Reese brothers merged their father’s company with his mentor, the Hershey Chocolate Corporation. The deal led to a tax-free stock-for-stock merger with the six Reese brothers receiving 666,316 Hershey common shares, valued at the time for $23.5 million. In 2013, after 50 years of stock splits, the original shares account for sixteen million Hershey common shares valued in excess of $1 billion, paying $31 million in annual cash dividends.

I expect that number to quadruple with the creation of this new stuffed candy.