Anheuser, Eberhard (1805–1880) was the co-founder of what would become Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company (see anheuser-busch and inbev) in St. Louis, Missouri, brewers of the American beer Budweiser.

Anheuser was born in Bad Kreuznach, a town in western Germany along the Nahe River, a tributary of the Rhine River. With his two brothers, he immigrated to the United States and settled in St. Louis, Missouri in 1842. A soap and candle maker by trade, he founded a successful soap factory and became wealthy.

Around 1859, Anheuser became a major creditor in the failing Bavarian Brewing Company founded by George Schneider less than 10 years before. Schneider was ultimately unable to pay Anheuser, who acquired the brewery to satisfy the debt, and began running the brewery business, renaming it E. Anheuser & Co. Though not a brewmaster, Anheuser was a shrewd businessman and had the wherewithal, and cash, to keep the brewery going.

In March of 1861, Anheuser’s 17-year-old daughter Lilly married Adolphus Busch, who owned a successful brewing supply company. On the very same day, his older brother Ulrich married another of Eberhard Anheuser’s daughters, Anna, as well.

A few years later, Adolphus Busch joined his father-in-law at the brewery, buying a stake in the company in 1865. When Eberhard Anheuser passed away in 1880, Busch became president, and the brewery became known as the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Association.