Benjamin Newton Duke (April 25, 1855 – January 8, 1929) was an American tobacco, textile and energy industrialist and philanthropist.

He served as vice-president at American Tobacco Company, being also founder of Duke Energy.

Within two decades, their power facilities had been greatly expanded, and they were supplying electricity to more than 300 cotton mills and other industrial companies through an electrical grid that supplied cities and towns in the Piedmont Region of North and South Carolina.

[1] Benjamin Duke and his brother were major contributors to the economic growth of the North Carolina economy and would expand into other areas with sizable investments in railroads and banks.

One Summer of Service must take place in a low-income community in the Carolinas, and one is carried out in an international location of the scholars' choice.