John Pemberton
By: Hayat Abdullahi
Early Life
Early Medical Career
About Thomsonian Principles
Later Medical Career
The Coca Cola Company
A few years before Coca-Cola began its spectacular rise to international stardom, a drink known as Pemberton's French Wine Coca was extremely popular in Atlanta, and quickly its fame spread throughout the Southeast.Pemberton once admitted that his coca and kola beverage was based on Vin Mariani, a French formula perfected by Mariani and Company of Paris. In 1886 the city of Atlanta introduced prohibition, which, among other things, forbade the sale of wine. Pemberton decided to make another version of his popular drink. He dropped the reference to wine in the name of the beverage, substituted sugar syrup for the wine, and coined the name "Coca-Cola" to identify his formula. From that day on the iconic name was born, and he would call Coca-Cola the ideal temperance drink, both on the label and in advertising.
Realizing that he needed financial backing to market this nonalcoholic version of French Wine Coca on a large scale,, he put his son Charles in charge of manufacturing Coca-Cola, and after prohibition ended in 1887, he started producing French Wine Coca again, and sold his practices and drug stores to spend his time working on his beverages.
Death
John Pemberton died at age 57 in August 1888, poor, sick, addicted to morphine, and a victim of stomach cancer. His gravemarker is engraved with symbols showing his Confederate military service and his pride in being a Freemason. On the day of Pemberton's funeral, Atlanta druggists closed their stores and attended the services out of respect. On that day, not one drop of Coca-Cola was dispensed in the entire city. The Atlanta newspapers called him "the oldest druggist of Atlanta and one of her best known citizens."