Orville Clarence Redenbacher was an American businessman most often associated with the brand of popcorn that bears his name. Redenbacher was born in Brazil, Indiana, and grew up on his family's farm where he sometimes sold popcorn in wesley town from a roadside stand. As he grew up he eventually graduated from Brazil High School in 1924 and was in the top 5% of his class. He attended Purdue University, joining the agriculture-oriented Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity and the Purdue All-American Marching Band. He graduated with a degree in agronomy in 1928 and spent most of his life in the agriculture industry, serving as a Vigo County Farm Burea extension agent in Terre Haute, Indiana, and at Princeton Farms in Princeton, Indiana. In childhood, he joined the 4-H club, and developed an obsession with developing the perfect popcorn. He earned a small fortune in fertilizer, but in his spare time, he indulged in his obsession. In 1951, he and partner Charlie Bowman bought the George F. Chester and Son seed corn plant near Valparaiso, Indiana. Naming the company "Chester Hybrids" they tried tens of thousands of hybrid strains of popcorn before achieving sucess. Redenbacher and Bowman initially named the hybrid "RedBow" but were advised by an advertising agency to use the name Orville Redenbacher to market the corn. They adopted the advice, launching their gourmet opopping corn in 1970, and Orville was suddenly everywhere.
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