Milton Snavely Hershey (September 13, 1857 – October 13, 1945) was an American chocolatier, businessman, and philanthropist.

Trained in the confectionery business, Hershey pioneered the manufacture of caramel, using fresh milk.

Hershey's philanthropy extended to a boarding school, originally for local orphans, but accommodating around 2,000 students as of 2016.

[1] In World War II, the company developed a special non-melting bar for troops serving overseas.

In 1871, Milton Hershey left school and was apprenticed to a local printer, Sam Ernst, who published a German-English newspaper.

[4] His mother arranged for the 14-year-old Hershey to be apprenticed to a confectioner named Joseph Royer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Milton then traveled to Denver and, finding work at a local confectioners, learned how to make caramels using fresh milk.

The founding of the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center occurred in 1963 when the board of the trust went to the Dauphin County Orphans Court with the cy-près doctrine (cy près is a French phrase meaning "As close as possible").

In 1912, the Hersheys were booked to travel on the maiden voyage of the British luxury liner RMS Titanic.

They canceled their reservations at the last minute due to business matters requiring Hershey's attention.

The Ration D Bar had very specific requirements from the army: It had to weigh 1 or 2 ounces (28 or 57 g); it had to resist melting at temperatures higher than 90 °F (32 °C), and it had to have an unpleasant-enough flavor to prevent the troops from developing cravings for them.

It is estimated that between 1940 and 1945, over three billion of the Ration D and Tropical Chocolate Bars were produced and distributed to soldiers throughout the world.

By the end of World War II, the entire Hershey plant was producing ration bars at a rate of 24 million a week.

"[18] Hershey's birthday, September 13, is one of several competing dates celebrated as International Chocolate Day.

[19] On September 13, 1995, the United States Postal Service issued a 32-cent stamp for Milton S. Hershey, which honors him as a philanthropist, as part of the Great Americans series.