Clay Mathile

Clay Mathile, the former owner and CEO of the Iams pet food company, and a longtime Dayton philanthropist, died Saturday August 26 2023 surrounded by family, according to a statement from the Mathile family. He was 82. Mathile was born on a farm in Ohio and worked as an accountant for the Campbell Soup Company before departing to Iams. When he joined the pet food company in 1970, Iams was clocking $500,000 a year in sales. The company was doing about $800 million in annual sales by the time Mathile sold it to P&G. Mathile gave his employees $100 million of his cut following the sale of Iams. In 2008, Mathile spent $130 million to create Aileron, a Dayton, Ohio, school that offered management training for small business owners. Forbes estimated Mathile’s net worth at $2.3 billion at his death. The late entrepreneur’s net worth peaked at $3.8 billion in 2017