Food and beverage company executive, born in Havana, Cuba. A Yale-educated engineer, he joined Coca-Cola as a quality control and research specialist in 1954. As president, chairman, and chief executive officer, he proved an aggressive and successful marketing and corporate strategist. He stunned the country in 1985 by changing Coke's formula, a decision reversed within weeks after a public outcry.
Roberto Crispulo Goizueta (November 18, 1931, - October 18, 1997) was Chairman, Director, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Coca-Cola Company from August 1980, until his death October 1997.
Under the direction of Goizueta, investors saw The Coca-Cola Company become a top US corporation.
Goizueta was a respected civic servant.
Life
Roberto Goizueta was born into a prominent family in Havana, Cuba, where his grandfather owned a Cuban sugar refinery.
In Havana, Goizueta attended the prestigious Colegio de Belén, a Jesuit secondary school and later studied for a year in the United States at the Cheshire Academy, a preparatory school in Connecticut.
He began studies at Yale University in 1948, earning a Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering.
Fidel Castro rose to power in Cuba,reforming Cuba into a communist state.
Career at The Coca-Cola Company
A year after returning to Cuba to work in his families business, replying to an anonymous want ad in his local newspaper, Goizueta found himself working for the Coca-Cola bottler in Cuba.
After defecting to the United States, Goizueta worked for The Coca-Cola Company in Miami.
In 1964 he was moved to the headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia.
Robert Goizueta received a stunning appointment in 1979, to become President of The Coca-Cola Company after then officer J.
Goizueta remained at the helm of The Coca-Cola Company for sixteen years until the time of his death, due to complications from lung cancer, in 1997.
During his tenure, the Coca-Cola brand became the most well-known trademark in the world.
He also sat on the Board of Directors for various companies, including, SunTrust Banks, Inc., The Ford Motor Company, and The Eastman Kodak Company.
Philanthropy
Robert Goizueta was a trustee, and many times sat on the board of many educational charitable institutions.
In 1992, he established The Goizueta Foundation, with a goal to support educational and charity institutions.
The Goizueta Business School at Emory University
In 1994, after a $10 million gift from the Robert W.
Quotes
"Once you lose everything, what's the worst that's going to happen to you?
"We're going to take risks.
"State expectations. -- (on creating credibility.)
"The moment avoiding failure becomes your motivation, you're down the path of inactivity. -- (responding to questions about the introduction of New Coke being merely a marketing ploy.)
"In order to show proper respect for your future, you must sometimes show some insensitivity to your past."
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