Cargill MacMillan Jr

Heir to Minnesota company that piles food on America's plates. William Cargill, son of Scottish sea captain, started Cargill as a grain storage house in Iowa after Civil War. Will's son-in-law John MacMillan took reins 1909. Family owns 88% of company, employees the rest. Today sales exceed $120 billion. Net profits in 2008: nearly $4 billion, up 69% from previous year as global demand for commodities soared. Company controls food from stable to table; manufactures animal feed, meat, crops. Also involved in commodities trading, risk management. Owns majority of publicly traded fertilizer firm Mosaic; stock up 160% since last August. The family still owns nearly 85 percent of the company. Sales are now at $75.2 billion, and the company is responsible for 25 percent of the nation's grain exports, and supplies about 22 percent of the U.S. domestic meat market. It employs approximately 150,000 people at 1,100 locations in 63 countries. MacMillan was a longtime board member. He had no day-to-day role in the company. He and his wife, Donna, moved from Minnesota to Indian Wells in 1990. They were philanthropists, donating a $20 million art collection to the Palm Springs Art Museum. He is survived by his wife and four children.