Remembered best for establishing the American H-E-B chain of grocery stores, this twentieth-century entrepreneur is also famous as a philanthropist. In the mid-1930s, he launched both the Howard E. Butt Community Investment Program and the H.E. Butt Foundation; these organizations aided nonprofit and education programs in Texas. During his high school years, he helped manage a small-scale food store that his mother operated. Before launching his own business career, he served in World War I.