Ira “Bob” Born, a sweet firm government often called the “Father of Peeps” for mechanizing the method to make marshmallow chicks, has died. He was 98.
Simply Born High quality Confections, the 100-year-old family-owned firm Born led for a lot of his life, mentioned Monday that he had died peacefully on Sunday.
Born started his life in New York Metropolis on Sept. 29, 1924. His father, Sam Born, was a Russian immigrant who began Simply Born shortly earlier than his son’s delivery. The household later moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the place Simply Born continues to be primarily based.
Bob Born graduated from Lehigh College with a level in engineering physics. He enlisted within the U.S. Navy and served as a radar specialist and a lieutenant on a destroyer within the Pacific. Later, the Navy despatched him to the College of Arizona and the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise for graduate work in math and physics.
Born utilized to medical faculty and was accepted, however whereas he was ready for his courses to start, he went to work at Simply Born. He fell in love with the sweet enterprise and determined to remain.
“The candy business was kind of catchy … it was interesting to him,” Ross Born, Bob Born’s son, told the Lehigh Valley News. “He enjoyed the science, the technology, the processing. He was very much into the equipment.”
In 1953, Simply Born acquired Rodda Sweet Co., a jelly bean maker that had a facet enterprise producing formed marshmallow candies by hand. On the time, it took about 27 hours to make the marshmallows.
Bob Born noticed the candies’ potential, so he and an engineer at the corporate designed and constructed a machine to make them in lower than six minutes. The corporate’s present machines, that are nonetheless primarily based on Bob Born’s design, now pump out 5.5 million Peeps per day.
Peeps, the scrumptious marshmallow treats, are an Easter vacation staple. Learn the way the colourful chicks and bunnies are made.
Seventy years later, Peeps stay Simply Born’s most recognizable sweet model, the corporate says. Simply Born makes round 2 billion Peeps every year, or sufficient to circle the globe two-and-a-half instances. It sells essentially the most at Easter, but additionally has variations bought for Halloween, Valentine’s Day and different holidays.
Bob Born additionally got here up with the recipe for one more widespread Simply Born sweet, Scorching Tamales. Simply Born additionally makes Mike and Ike fruit chews and Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews.
Bob Born turned Simply Born’s president in 1959 and held the position for greater than 30 years. He final visited the Simply Born manufacturing unit on Feb. 15, 2019, when town of Bethlehem proclaimed the primary day of the Easter season as “Bob Born Day.”
He spent most of his retirement in Florida, the place he led a literacy program and loved hobbies together with images. He was lively till just a few months earlier than he died, when he had a tough restoration after a tough fall.
“Bob will probably be remembered as a tireless and passionate advocate for the sweet business and an exquisite supporter of our group,” mentioned David Shaffer, co-CEO and chairman of Simply Born, in a press release launched by the corporate.
He’s survived by his widow, Patricia; kids Sara and Ross; 5 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. His funeral will probably be personal.