Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: February 15, 1918 - William T. Young

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From The Kentucky Encyclopedia -
William T. Young, entrepreneur and philanthropist, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, on February 15, 1918, to Willis S. and Margaret (Thompson) Young. He graduated from Lexington's Henry Clay High School in 1935 and received a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Kentucky in 1939. He worked as an engineer for Bailey Meter Company (a subsidiary of General Electric) until 1941, then served as an officer in the Ordnance Department of the U.S. Army (1941-46).

After World War II, Young founded W.T. Young Foods in Lexington to manufacture peanut butter. He sold the company to Procter & Gamble in June 1955 and headed P&G's Jif peanut butter subsidiary for the next two years. In 1958 he founded W.T. Young Storage and related warehousing and trucking companies in Lexington. During 1966-84 Young was chairman of the board of Royal Crown Companies of Atlanta.

In 1966 Young joined the Transylvania University board of trustees, which he has chaired since 1977. The university in 1980 awarded Young the Transylvania Medal for significant contributions by a nonalumnus. He is the founder and principal supporter of the William T. Young Scholarship Program at Transylvania, which since 1983 has awarded four-year, merit-based scholarships to twenty-five freshmen students each year. Young's friends funded Transylvania's W.T. Young Campus Center in his honor. He holds an honorary doctorate of laws degree from the university. Among the other charitable and civic projects with which Young is associated are the Lexington Opera House Fund, the Kentucky Center for the Arts , the Lexington Center Corporation, and the Triangle Foundation.

Young married Lucy Hilton Maddox of Blakely, Georgia, in 1945; they have two children, William T., Jr., and Lucy (Young) Ruspoli.

Selected Sources from UK Libraries:
 

Pagoulatos, Charlee Heaton., Shae. Hopkins, Ellen. Ballard, Otis. Smothers, Ballard, Otis, Smothers, Tom, and Kentucky Educational Television. The William T. Young Story. Lexington, Ky.]: KET, 2002.

AV-V4613, Young Media Library

William T. Young Interviews. Print.

UK-D5064, Young Media Library