The Fitzgerald Ice Company was founded in 1907 by John Henry Dorminy, Sr., as a manufacturer and seller of ice, coal, and gas with modest sales of Anheuser-Busch beer. For the first 43 years of existence, Fitzgerald Ice Company operated as a sole proprietorship by John Henry Dorminy. Mr. Dorminy incorporated the business in 1956 and named his son, John Henry Dorminy, Jr., as President. In 1970, another son, William J. Dorminy (Jim), was named President and General Manager of the company. William J. Dorminy, Jr. (Will), a grandson of the founder, joined the Company in 1995 as sales reached 937,000 cases and became President in 2005. Under his leadership additional distributorships and territories have been acquired, including Vidalia in December 2007, Savannah and Blackshear in October 2008, and Brunswick in 2010. In December 2012, Southern Eagle acquired Pearlstine Distributors in Charleston, SC. Southern Eagle Distributing remains one of the oldest continual Anheuser-Busch distributorships in the United States.