PASSINGS: Chaleo Yoovidhya, John M. Pfau

Chaleo Yoovidhya

Billionaire developed Red Bull energy drinks

Chaleo Yoovidhya, the self-made Thai billionaire who introduced the world to “energy drinks” and co-founded the globally popular Red Bull brand, died Saturday of natural causes in Bangkok, according to local media reports and state television broadcaster MCOT, which cited the Thai Beverage Industry Assn.

Forbes magazine, which ranked him the 205th-richest man in the world this year with a net worth of $5 billion, said he was 80. Several Thai media outlets cited his birth date as Aug. 17, 1923, however, indicating he was 88. It was not immediately possible to explain the discrepancy.

He was born in central Thailand’s Phichit province to a Chinese father and a Thai mother who reportedly sold fruit and ducks to survive. In the 1960s, he started a small company, T.C. Pharmaceuticals, and formulated an energy drink prototype a decade later called Krathing Daeng, or “Red Bull” in English.

The caffeine-laden drink became popular among truck drivers and other blue-collar workers throughout the country, but it remained a local phenomenon until he met Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz.

Together, they modified the initial formula and founded the international Red Bull brand. Launched in 1987, Red Bull now sells billions of iconic slim cans across the world annually.

John M. Pfau

Founding president of Cal State San Bernardino

John M. Pfau, 93, the founding president of Cal State San Bernardino who began laying the groundwork for the school in 1962, opened the campus to students in 1965 and remained there until his retirement in 1982, died of natural causes Sunday in Napa, the university announced.

The campus library was renamed in Pfau’s honor when he retired.

Pfau was a dean at Sonoma State when he was hired at San Bernardino, and he emphasized a liberal arts education for the new institution.

Born April 28, 1918, in what is now Serbia, he moved with his family to the United States in 1921. He earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in history from the University of Chicago, where he also met his future wife, Antreen.

Pfau and his wife moved to Napa in 1999. She died in August. The Pfau Family Scholarship Fund at Cal State San Bernardino has been established in the couple’s honor.

-- Los Angeles Times staff and wire reports

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