Heaven Hill was founded by several investors shortly after the repeal of Prohibition in 1935 [1934 according to the Heaven Hill website], including a prominent distiller, Joseph L. Beam, and a member of the Shapira family. As the company developed, the five brothers of the Shapira family bought out the other investors. Joe Beam remained as Master Distiller, along with his youngest son, Harry. Descendants of the Shapira brothers own and run the company to this day. – Wikipedia