Willis Kilmer, son of Jonas M. Kilmer and Julia E. Sharpe, was a marketing pioneer,
newspaperman, and
horse breeder. Born in
Brooklyn, New York, he graduated from
Cornell University in 1890. He was perhaps best known for advertising and promoting his uncle's
Swamp Root patent medicine formula until it became a household name. Dr. S. Andral Kilmer (1840–1924) developed the Swamp Root formula and began selling it around 1878. Three years later, Dr. Kilmer's brother Jonas (1843–1912) arrived from New York City to help run the fast-growing business. In 1892, Jonas bought out his brother and brought in his son Willis to direct marketing and advertising. Continued success led them to construct the six-story Kilmer Building at Lewis and Chenango Sts in downtown
Binghamton, NY as their manufacturing and business headquarters in 1903. The Swamp Root formulation fell out of favor after the advent of the 1906
Pure Food and Drug Act, which resulted in the federal government imposing testing and labeling requirements on a variety of products, including
patent medicines with dubious claims. The Kilmer brothers' Swamp Root formula was regarded as fraud and
quackery by critics. Medical health experts noted that it was being advertised under false pretenses, the formula was potentially dangerous and there was no evidence it could cure
kidney or
liver disease. having amassed a fortune of some $15 million, mostly from the sale of the
patent medicine Swamp Root tonic. After his death, Kilmer was interred at a mausoleum in Floral Park Cemetery in the Binghamton suburb of
Johnson City, NY. ==Thoroughbred racing==