John Figg was a farmer in the 1920's near Freedom, Indiana. He became a partner at the Hawthorn Grocery in downtown Bloomington in 1931. Three years later the grocery, now Hawthorn and Figg, moved a block west. In 1938 the business, now Figg's Wholesale, moved to W. 7th Street, and in 1961 to the large new plant on Curry Pike. At the time, Westinghouse was the only other nearby business.
The company was purchased by Wetterau in 1963, and Figg became a general manager there until his retirement three years later. He was a community philanthropist, and benefactor of the John R. Rigg Intensive Coronary Care Unit, a donor of Bloomington Hospital, and a church leader in his community.