Charles Duncan , Jr . Charles William Duncan , Jr . ( born September 9 , 1926 ) is an American entrepreneur , administrator , and statesman best known for serving as U . S . Secretary of Energy on the Cabinet of President Jimmy Carter from 1979 to 1981 . He had previously served as Carter ' s United States Deputy Secretary of Defense during the Iranian Revolution . Earlier , Duncan had run the family business , Duncan Coffee Company of Houston , Texas , for seven years , until the Coca - Cola Company acquired it in 1964 . After seven years on the Coke board , Duncan became the corporation ' s president . Early years . A native of Houston , he served two years in the U . S . Army Air Corps and then graduated from Rice University in 1947 with a degree in chemical engineering . Duncan also pursued two years of graduate work in business administration at the University of Texas and worked briefly as a roustabout and chemical engineer for Humble Oil and Refining Corporation ( now Exxon ) . Duncan Coffee Company . In 1957 Duncan joined his family ’ s coffee business , which had been founded by his uncle and father in 1918 . Duncan Coffee ’ s early brands , notably Admiration and Bright & Early , had become grocery staples in Texas and surrounding states . Duncan rose steadily through the ranks and attained the presidency in 1958 , when he was 31 . Under his leadership , the company expanded into the production of instant coffee — a new and popular beverage — by acquiring plants in New Jersey and Pennsylvania . Duncan also acquired several regional brands of ground coffee , including Butternut Foods of Nebraska and Fleetwood Coffee of Tennessee . Most importantly , he developed Maryland Club Coffee , which was marketed as a premier , upscale blend rivaling Maxwell House . The company ’ s print ads featured an elegantly dressed model , brunette Elsa Rosborough , who became known as Miss Maryland Club . The Coca - Cola Company . On May 8 , 1964 , Duncan Coffee merged with the Coca - Cola Company , and Charles Duncan joined the Coke board . He ran the newly formed Coca - Cola Foods Division , which included the coffee and citrus ( Minute Maid ) divisions of Coke . Three years later the company dispatched him to London to serve as chairman of Coca - Cola Europe . There Duncan supervised the operation and expansion of almost 300 Coca - Cola bottling plants throughout Europe and Asia , including ones in Eastern Europe , Southwest Asia , and North Africa . The first Eastern Europe introduction into Bulgaria made The Coca - Cola Company the first U . S . consumer marketing company to penetrate the Iron Curtain . In 1970 Duncan returned to Atlanta and the following year became Coca - Cola ’ s president . During his tenure from 1971 to 1974 , the company enjoyed extensive growth . It also modernized its advertising . During this period Duncan bought , from Coca - Cola ’ s eminent R . W . Woodruff , the famous TE Ranch , southwest of Cody , Wyoming — a working cattle ranch established in 1895 by William F . “ Buffalo Bill ” Cody . The Jimmy Carter Administration . In 1974 Duncan left Coca - Cola to head back to Houston , where he became the chairman of both Rotan Mosle Financial Corp . and Robertson Distribution Systems . In 1976 , he received a call from newly elected President Jimmy Carter , whom he had known in Atlanta when Carter was governor of Georgia . Carter asked him to accept the position of Deputy Secretary of Defense . In January 1977 Duncan moved to Washington , where he worked with Defense Secretary Harold Brown . The Iranian Revolution followed , encompassing political changes that marked that nation ’ s transformation from a monarchy under the pro - western Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi to a so - called republic under the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini . Duncan ’ s duties involved multiple trips to several countries , including Iran , some of which were undergoing considerable turmoil . Duncan ’ s military advisor was a young colonel named Colin Powell , who considered Duncan a mentor and good friend . When Powell was promoted to brigadier general in 1979 , Duncan pinned on the medal . Duncan had a watershed year in 1979 . In July , he became a member of the Cabinet when President Carter chose him to succeed James Schlesinger as Secretary of Energy . The appointment drew some criticism , as Duncan had little experience in the oil business , but his managerial skills proved effective for a job that involved tough negotiations with OPEC and long lines for gasoline . The experience strengthened Duncan ’ s belief in conservation measures of all kinds , in addition to enhancing production . Corporate and State Service . Leaving Washington at the end of Carter ’ s term , Charles Duncan again returned to Houston , in January 1981 . There he founded — with his brother , John H . Duncan — Gulf Partners , a private investment firm . He also served on the boards of The Coca - Cola Company , J . P . Morgan Chase , Texas Eastern , American Express , United Technologies , and more . At the request of Texas Governor Mark White and billionaire politician Ross Perot , Duncan joined the Select Committee on Public Education , and the Texas State Board of Education . That Board formulated the controversial “ no pass no play ” rule , requiring athletes to maintain passing grades in all academic classes . Rice University . Throughout his career , Duncan repeatedly served as a trustee on the Board of Governors of Rice University . From 1982 to 1996 , he served as chairman of Rice ’ s board . He twice led the search for a university president , lobbied for the recruitment of international students , and helped establish the James A . Baker III Institute for Public Policy , a nonpartisan think - tank . When Duncan retired from the Rice board , the school named its new computational engineering building in honor of him and his wife , the former Anne Smith in 1996 ( Anne and Charles Duncan Hall ) . In 2007 the couple marked their fiftieth wedding anniversary in June and then — in October — donated $ 30 million to Rice to establish Duncan College , the university ’ s eleventh residential college and its first - ever all - green building . Current projects . Today , Duncan ( in partnership with his son , Charles W . Duncan III ) oversees the diverse operations of Duncan Interests in Houston . Duncan also serves on the Board of Trustees of the education non - profit Reasoning Mind .