Lettie Pate Whitehead

Like many of the early firsts for women, Lettie Pate Whitehead’s entry into her line of work followed the death of her husband, with whom she had partnered to build a bottling company.

While her husband was alive, he was the face of their business, partnering with Coca-Cola to bottle their trademark beverage, then popular as a fountain drink. When he suddenly died, Whitehead, just 34, took charge of the company.

Over the course of the next 28 years, she grew the operation from a sizable 80 plants to more than 1,000, and eventually sold the operation to the Coca-Cola company in a stock deal that landed her on the company’s board, marking a milestone for female corporate leadership at a major company in the United States. She would serve there for two decades.

A foundation set up in her honor focuses on education and scholarships for women, as well as elderly care.

— Niv Elis