Edward John Noble
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Edward John Noble (1882 – 1958) was a U.S. broadcasting and candy industrialist originally from Gouveneur, New York. He co-founded the Life Savers Corporation in 1913. He founded the American Broadcasting Company when he purchased the NBC Blue Network in 1943 following the FCC's decree that RCA divest itself of one of its two radio networks. In 1912, chocolate manufacturer Clarence Crane (Cleveland, Ohio) invented Life Savers as a “summer candy” that could withstand heat better than chocolate. Since the mints looked like miniature life preservers, he called them Life Savers. After registering the trademark, Crane sold the rights to the peppermint candy to Edward Noble for $2,900. Instead of using cardboard rolls, Noble created tin-foil wrappers to keep the mints fresh. Pep-O-Mint was the first Life Saver flavor. Since then, many different flavors of Life Savers have been produced. The five-flavor roll first appeared in 1935. Noble is said to have shocked his staff by creating sparks in his mouth with wintergreen Life Savers. This is how the early days of spark gap radio were started.
Edward Noble also had 3 hospitals and a foundation named after him.
