From SLUH to Sweet Success: Jack Anton’s Hard-Fought Legacy of Leadership

By Justin Seaton ’13

“I’m working on a profile of the former owner of Ghirardelli Chocolate.” I’ve said it many times over the last couple months.

“Wow,” they respond in awe. “What’s he like?” 

I think they’re envisioning Willy Wonka. I initially did. I hate to shatter the illusion, but the only former owner of a world-famous chocolate company that I’ve ever met is not much like Gene Wilder’s erratic, eccentric confectioner.

Jack Anton ’60 is genial and modest. In place of a tall top hat, he wears rectangular spectacles and grey hair, neatly combed. In place of a “tail-coat made of beautiful plum-coloured velvet,” I see the sharply ironed collar of a blue oxford. I can’t see lower than his lapel on our video call, but I’d bet his trousers aren’t “bottle green.”

I asked Jack if he’d ever considered the comparison with Willy.

“Well…” He paused. “Our company was a pretty serious company,” reflected Anton. “But I’ll tell you a personal thing, and this is a true story,” he continued. “On Halloween, I always sat on the front steps of our San Francisco home with cases of Ghirardelli bars. The kids would say, ‘This is the Ghirardelli house!’ And they’d all come running… I saw it as the perfect opportunity for brand extension.”

Anton was selling happiness. He knew that. But his focus was strategic. He was a dedicated leader with a clear vision. The road he walked to achieve his vision was not paved with toffee or landscaped with lollipops. Anton fought, sometimes literally, to get where he got. And we have all enjoyed the fruits (chocolates) of his labors.

Long before he brought his pragmatism to the chocolate business, Anton matter-of-factly mastered more sporting matters, as co-captain of the SLUH varsity football team that still holds every defensive record in school history. The 1959 Jr. Bills shut out their first five opponents in a row, and ended their undefeated season having outscored opponents 142-21.

The defensive unit in particular became local legends that year. They were nicknamed “The Hungry Huns” by the local press, for they were “no less fierce than their ancient namesakes,” wrote John Eschenbrenner in the October 30, 1959 edition of the Prep News.

Anton played tackle on both sides of the ball. On offense, he muscled open gaps for his backs to crash through. On defense, he saw to it that “opposing linemen did not follow the golden rule”—another pithy bit of sports reporting from the Prep News. In the locker room, Anton leveraged his experience as a three-year varsity starter to institute a culture of mental and physical toughness.

SLUH sports archivist Frank Pawloski ’63 was just a freshman in 1959. Even so, he remembers the legend of the “Huns.”

“Physically, the Huns were big and quick,” said Pawloski. “Mentally, the Huns were ‘smart’ football players and could grasp the opponents' offense with ease. Emotionally, the Huns played as a team and picked one another up in game situations.”

Anton’s ferocity drove that defense on the field. His humility drove his teammates to follow suit. Anton’s teammate Jerry McNieve ’60, recalled one practice when Jack plowed him into the ground. Jerry looked up at an apologetic Anton who hovered above him and said, “Jerry, I wouldn’t have done this, but Coach told me to.” Then he helped him up.

“Jack was a good leader and a talented football player,” said McNeive. “He was smart, humble and didn’t brag.”

Anton led in other ways, too. He was president of his homeroom and a competitor on the first-ever SLUH wrestling team. “He was a very good wrestler who always had a smile on his face,” remembered McNieve. “But once he got you in a headlock, it was all over with.” 

In addition to his success in homeroom, against heavyweights and as a “Hun,” Anton remembers the lasting impact of his Jesuit education.

“St. Louis U. High provided the basis for the value systems that I’ve lived by my entire life,” said Anton. “The Jesuits challenged you, but they never criticized you for thinking outside the box. And throughout everything, there was always the feeling that you were expected to do the right thing.”

In the fall of 1960, joined by SLUH teammates Jack Simon and Scott Videmschek, Anton became part of the first class of three players from the same prep school to all receive football scholarships at the University of Notre Dame.

At Notre Dame, as at SLUH, Anton juggled academic, extracurricular and athletic success. This was well before collegiate footballers trained like professional athletes. There was an off-season then. Anton made the most of it by connecting around campus, studying chemistry and competing in the heavyweight division of another storied program. In Spring 1963, Anton became heavyweight champion of the Bengal Bouts—a boxing tournament that has raised money for the Holy Cross Missions in Bangladesh since 1931. 

“I felt like I was able to contribute in special ways at Notre Dame,” said Anton. In Spring 1964, he left South Bend as he had left Oakland Avenue: a champion and a leader.

After college, Anton was recruited by “the hometown favorite,” Ralston Purina—the place where he was first exposed to an entrepreneurial mindset. Ralston had just acquired Fort Halifax Poultry Co. in Waterville, Maine from Don Corbett. Anton met with Corbett when he was recruited. He asked, plainly, what he could bring to the operation. Anton had never stepped on a farm. He didn’t know the first thing about chickens. 

“Corbett said, ‘you don’t need to know all that stuff,’” recalled Anton. “‘I need somebody who is committed to the growth of this business; somebody that’s dedicated.’”

Over time, Anton’s relationship with and respect for Corbett grew—as did his role at the Waterville plant. Anton worked through the plant as a supervisor in each of the departments and got to understand the feelings of the people. Within six months, at 23 years old, Anton was promoted to manager of the plant. As on the “Huns,” at Ralston, Anton earned the respect of his team by working hard but treating people fairly. 

“You really have to understand your workforce,” said Anton, “and you don’t do that by reading reports; you need to talk to people.”

In 1965, Anton applied for deferment from the Vietnam draft so he could continue growing at Ralston. Nevertheless, in 1966 his number was called.

Anton enlisted in Officer Candidate School (OCS) and joined an infantry company of 200 men in Ft. Bening, Georgia. Within two weeks, he was elected company president by his peers. Anton’s early experience as an on-field and in-the-plant leader lent itself to the role, and as it happens, to military service.

“I give the military huge credit for managing to convert me into a reasonably good infantry officer,” said Anton. “Fort Benning was the crucible. They were either going to give you your Lieutenant pins or wash you out. It was tough, but it was a great opportunity to manage a group that ran the gamut from Harvard guys to kids right out of high school.”

Anton graduated from OCS in June `67, earned the rank of second lieutenant, married his wife Carlin, and headed for his first assignment: a mechanized infantry battalion in Ft. Hood, Texas. 

“There aren’t enough superlatives to describe Carlin,” said Anton, caught in a sweet memory. “She’s got a very infectious personality. She’s a beautiful person inside and out.”

Jack Anton met Carlin Smith when they were seniors in high school. Carlin was St. Joseph Academy’s representative for prom, and Jack was smitten. They dated on and off through college, and things got really serious when he got that first job in Maine. They have been married for 58 years now. They have two children and three grandchildren. 

In Ft. Hood, the former Fighting Irish tackle endeared himself to college-football-loving Col. McKee. Anton became the colonel’s adjutant, and for a while, things went smoothly. Carlin found work as a teacher in Texas. Jack developed a good relationship with the men in his battalion. With their steady dual income, the small Anton family was able to afford a decent dinner at the officers’ club almost every night. Life was good.

In those early years of their marriage, Carlin’s outlook powered their family’s success. She worked; she taught; she saw every new challenge as an opportunity to achieve more. With Jack’s deployment looming, Carlin’s positivity was a boon. And then he was called to action.

Newly promoted First Lieutenant Jack Anton deployed to Vietnam in 1968.

“You get two nights in Saigon to process the transition in your mind before they give you your orders,” recalled Anton. “I had some scary nights awaiting my assignment in the middle of an active warzone.”

Lt. Anton was assigned to the 5th ARVN infantry division with the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV). He replaced an outgoing Lieutenant on the front lines, and he remained with the same battalion of roughly 800 men for the next year, operating throughout “III Corps”—the region around the capital city of Saigon.

“Living with the Vietnamese opened my eyes to the whole political situation over there, but more importantly, to the type of people who live in Vietnam,” said Anton. “I made some great friends.”

Lt. Anton earned a Bronze Star for valor in battle. He left Vietnam in 1969, a medaled hero, forever changed.

“When I went back to work, I thought to myself: ‘There isn’t anything we can’t work through. People might be mad at you, but they’re not shooting bullets.’”

After the war, Anton worked for 10 years in Ralston Purina’s New Business Development Division. As VP of Sales & Marketing for the Soy Protein Division, a significant growth initiative for Ralston-Purina, he helped develop innovative new applications for soy protein ingredients. He and Carlin lived in St. Louis during those days, but he traveled often, networking throughout the food industry. Thus began the Hungry Hun’s career-making trek through the food production and distribution space. 

In 1979, Anton was recruited to be the president of Nabisco’s corn processing business, Clinton Corn. In 1980, he orchestrated a headquarters relocation from Clinton, Iowa to Chicago—and an Anton-family relocation from the banks of the Mississippi to the shores of Lake Michigan. Jack, Carlin and their 10-year-old son John drove up highway 55 in uncomfortable silence. St. Louis had been home for so long. All their people were there. But Jack had the right partner for the adventure.

“Carlin had a genuine way of communicating with people,” said Anton. “You always know what she’s thinking, and it has strengthened all of our relationships for nearly 60 years. She made friends in Chicago, and later San Francisco. She’s capitalized on the exciting life we’ve been blessed to live.” 

When Nabisco sold Clinton Corn in 1982, Anton recognized an opportunity to become the entrepreneur he had once admired. He had spent the majority of his career making the right connections with people in the food industry. In ’82, he struck out on his own, took a calculated risk and put together financial backing to purchase a portfolio of three divisions of Mallinckrodt Chemical, which became Carlin Foods.

Anton capitalized on the nationwide system of manufacturing plants he had acquired, and Carlin foods became the primary supplier of food and ingredients to major brands like Dannon and Continental Baking. The company’s worth ballooned in the early 80s, and Anton finally sold Carlin Foods to Bunge Foods in 1988.

“My experience running Carlin Foods gave me the validation that I could get things done on my own and be successful,” said Anton. “Plus, I built up an excellent record of getting returns on investors’ money.” 

In 1992 Anton gathered more investors and acquired Ghirardelli Chocolate from Quaker Oats. Charlie got his chocolate factory.

As owner, chairman and CEO, Anton gave Ghiradelli the kick it needed.

He strengthened the Ghirardelli brand, making sure that the“Ghirardelli Chocolate” logo, with its majestic eagle in flight, was consistent on every package of its premium chocolates. Under his ownership, Ghirardelli opened 19 old-fashioned soda fountains and chocolate shops across the country, including a location in downtown Disney in Orlando, Florida. He established the Ghirardelli presence in the baking aisle, competing with Nestle’s and Baker’s chocolate products—including chocolate chips, baking bars and cocoas. In Ghirardelli Square, the product was happiness. In the office, Anton’s concerns were efficiency, efficacy and company culture.

In 2001, Anton personally led negotiations with the Lindt Chocolate Company in Zurich, Switzerland—the largest premium chocolate manufacturer in the world. “I told their board, ‘These two companies are meant to be. It’s destiny,’” said Anton. “We shared a concern for culture—each company with histories approaching 150 years of continuous operations—and quality; for taking your time and doing things right.”

The chocolate giants merged in 2002, and at Anton’s behest, all of the Ghiradelli employees kept their jobs. He insisted that Lindt invest in his team. 

As a footnote, Ghirardelli's U.S. headquarters is still in San Leandro, California, which Anton established after the purchase from Quaker Oats. It now houses the R&D center; corporate services; U.S. headquarters; and significant manufacturing capacity to service the demands of the U.S. market. 

For the last 20 years, Anton has worked in the private equity industry, most notably and currently, as Operating Director with Paine Schwartz Partners.

“Over the time I’ve been with them, they’ve migrated into a highly focused strategy of investing in the food, beverage and agricultural categories,” said Anton. Paine Schwartz’s strategy of “Investing to feed a growing population better food with more efficient use of resources” is clearly derived from their lengthy partnership with one of the captains of the global food industry in Anton.

Outside the office, Anton is active on the Advisory Boards of Notre Dame’s College of Science and the University of San Francisco’s Business School. He has contributed significantly to scholarship funds and science facilities for Notre Dame students. For many years, Jack orchestrated fundraising efforts for the Allendale Association in Chicago, which provides services and programs for local kids in need. For 10 years, he served as a board member for the Schools of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco. Carlin and Jack currently split their time between Chicago and Scottsdale.

Back home in St. Louis, a 65-year-old football helmet sits on display in the SLUH athletic offices. On either side of that helmet, in navy blue electrical tape, someone long ago wrote the word “HUN”. Although Jack Anton moved away 45 years ago, he left an indelible mark on this town, and this school, as a leader. He is the Hungry Hun captain who fed America. The proof is spelled out in 18 pieces of tape.

“Being captain of the football team and being partially responsible for the victories we had at SLUH really bolstered my self-confidence,” said Anton. “Those experiences made me who I am.”