Marc Huehn, born on Christmas eve, 1875, was the son of Chicago beer tycoon, Carl Huehn. He came from a family of German immigrants who journeyed through the Ellis Island a century before. They brought with them a trade that had been popular in Germany for centuries – beer making.
The Huehn family patriarch, Carl, was described as hardworking and tyrant–characteristics that had established the Huehn family and ironically caused its downfall. This was apparent in the rebellion of Marc Huehn older sister, Anke, who chose to be an actress during the time when the trade was yet to be recognized as a respectable career. March Huehn, on the other hand, admired his father’s work ethics despite of their personal differences. When he came of age, he decided to continue the family business. He was sent to Princeton University in 1892 where he read law.
But, times were tough when Marc Huehn returned to Chicago after graduating from Princeton. The Brewery’s competitors began pushing it out of the market and a series of events started to weaken the Huehn family. Carl suffered from stroke which left him incapacitated while Marc’s skills and knowledge of his father’s business were still premature. Nevertheless, he learned the ropes of running the Brewery and salvaged the company from near bankruptcy. With no one left to direct its operations, Huehn Brewery eventually collapsed when Marc Huehn died of tuberculosis several years later.