John B. Molyneux

Class of 2011

John B. Molyneux was born November 9, 1935, in Stoke Newington, London, England, to Alfred and Clara. He attended Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex, graduating in 1953.

John served as a Lieutenant of the Royal Armored Corps and in 1957, he began working as a brewer for Guinness Harp Corp.

After seven years with Guinness, John transferred to the U.S. to join the company’s marketing staff and was later promoted to vice-president of the metro beer division, in Queens, NY.

In 1958, he married Caroline Mary at Holy Trinity Church in Northwood, Middlesex, England. Together they have four children; Louise, Kate, William and Sarah.

In 1977, John began establishing a sales and marketing plan for the then Guinness-owned Callard & Bowser, maker of Altoids. Three years later, he formed Callard & Bowser U.S.A and became president. In its first year the business achieved $2.5 million in sales.

While John was president, he developed Altoids radio advertisements featuring British comedic actor John Cleese as well as the brand’s billboards. The company received a number of advertising awards, starting in the 1980s with a string of Clio awards for the radio advertising campaigns promoting Altoids.

This trend continued throughout the 1990s, including a 1993 Marketing Creativity Award and back-to-back Silver Effie awards for advertising effectiveness in 1996 and 1997.

In 1993, Kraft Foods, Inc. bought Callard & Bowser and John began working on the Kraft-owned Toblerone brand.

By the time John retired in 1997, Callard & Bowser had sales in excess of $400 million and Altoids and Toblerone were among the top-selling brands in the category. He remained an advisor to Kraft and other companies after his retirement.

John died April 19, 2010.