There is a fun rags-to-riches story behind Windsor Cocoanut.

Leopold Schepp (1841-1926 ), son of German immigrants, left school at age 10 to support a widowed mother. He began by selling a few Palm leaf fans from a streetcar and before long had a crew of other boys selling fans for him.

By age 27 he had built a successful coffee, tea and spice business and was banking his knowledge about importing, processing and wholesaling dried coconut. In 1880 he built a large processing facility at 165 Duane street in NYC, primarily for coconut. He was already known as the "Coconut King."

At one time, coconut (then spelled coconut) was an important method of sweetening in baking & canning.

Some of Schepp's wealth came from the stock market where he was known for bad language and a hot temper. The New York Times in 1887 described him as having a "temper that would make the North Pole melt." His raging once brought a suspension from the Exchange.

In 1925, with annual sales around $1 million, Schepp began giving away his fortune. He was as successful with that as he had been with creating it. He gave away around $7 million.

First there were gifts to employees of $500-$5,000. In 1925 he set up the Leopold Schepp Foundation to help boys who became Endeavorists and pledged to avoid bad habits. Improved education opportunities soon became the Foundation's primary objective.

Though the company would close in the 1930s, Schepp's daughter, Florence, carried on his benevolent activities after his death. In recent times the Leopold Schepp Foundation has awarded up to 200 scholarships a year.