Rudkin started her career as a bank teller. By this time, there were three bakeries: one in Connecticut, one near Chicago, and one near Philadelphia. Find a Grave. She also succeeded in selling, with her bread, the idea of the store-bought "homemade" product. . and Telephone: (309) 766-2311 After some rounds of competitive baking with her husband and an education in yeast, Rudkin figured out a recipe, made with all stone-ground wheat flour and a generous amount of butter and milk, plus honey and molasses, which was tender and delicious. Skip Ancestry . Fax: (856) 342-3878 Advertise About . In the intervening years since my last, Ive had all sorts of quality baked goods made with good ingredients, like Valrhona chocolate or rye flour for a distinctive chew, turned out at famous French bakeries or young and wild Brooklyn ones. Beginning in 1937 after she provided her son's allergist with some of the "health bread" she had made for her son, Rudkin began to explore the wider sales potential of her bread. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. With heavy hearts, we announce the death of Elaine Margaret Rudkin (Peru, Indiana), who passed away on May 30, 2022 at the age of 94. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. from their orchard of 500 trees and turkeys which they raised. Rudkins husband, Henry Albert, a New York City stockbroker, was injured in a polo accident and couldnt work for six months. Her husband enjoyed golf and shooting and served for years as president of the Fairfield Hunt Club, whose polo grounds were called Rudkin Field. She sold her first loaf to her local grocer, Mercurios, in Fairfield, and charged 25 centsinstead of the standard 10 centsdespite the grocers protests to cover her premium ingredients. Genealogy for Henry Albert Rudkin, Sr. (1885 - 1966) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. Home. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. And peculiarly, wedged in between those memoir-ish chapters of recipes and stories, was a fourth section: Cooking from Antique Cookbooks. It included vintage recipes from the 1475 Venetian cookbook De Honesta Voluptate et Valetudine, or Virtuous Enjoyment and Good Health, by Bartholomaeus de Platina, printed side by side with modern updates. When surplus bread was returned from the distributer, Rudkin used it to make poultry stuffing for a good profit. Then, Readers Digest published an article called "Bread Deluxe" and told Margaret's story to the world. Telephone: (309) 766-2311 Following graduation she went to work as a bookkeeper in a bank in Flushing and eventually became a bank teller. After 7 years of waiting, she opened the doors of her own bakery on July 4th, 1947. Margaret Rudkin discovers the snack cracker on a trip to Switzerland and returns with the recipe. All this time, she was maintaining the high quality of all the ingredients. Growth wasnt a straight trajectory up. Dictionary of American Biography. How One Family's Solution Became a Successful Global Business. 777 Dedham Street Another 96 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1301, 1346, 1546, 1455, . The American Collection, now known as Chocolate Chunk Big Cookies, join our popular Distinctive and Old Fashioned cookies in supermarkets in 1986. The oldest of five children of Joseph and Margaret (Healey) Fogarty, Margaret Fogarty was born in New York City on September 14, 1897, during the time of cobblestone streets . [1] On April 22, 1966, Rudkin's husband died at the age of 80. On April 8, 1923, Rudkin married Henry Albert Rudkin, a Wall Street stockbroker. Historical Person Search Search Search Results Results Margaret Rudkin (1927 - Unknown) Try FREE for 14 days Try FREE for 14 days How do we create a person's profile? She was also a director of Campbell Soup from 1961. By clicking Go, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the Penguin Random House During an era when being a housewife was considered the appropriate goal of a woman, Margaret Rudkin (18971967) achieved acclaim as one of the most, Cumberland Farms, Inc. Margaret just baked the bread by hand in her kitchen, making sure that every loaf was as good as it could be. Her son Mark became a landscape architect known for working on famous gardens in France, such as the Jardins . None of us had training or business experience. The August 15 anniversary will mark the day in 1937 that Margaret Rudkin sold the first loaf of Pepperidge Farm all natural, whole . Her son's doctor . Before the advent of second-wave feminism, she was encouraging women to work and hiring them to acclimate the American public to the very idea of women in the workplace. All Rights Reserved. And today, frozen products like our classic 3-Layer Cakes and Texas Toast comprise 20 percent of our line. Then one day Margaret decided to try baking him some all-natural stone ground whole wheat bread with vitamins and nutrients intact. It madethe New York Times best seller list. If you have logged into the site within the past 2 years, your subscription will remain active until you unsubscribe. Margaret Rudkin began making stone-ground wheat at her family's farmhouse in Connecticut for her son, who suffered with asthma and food allergies. That moment when your little girl is cracking up while holding a fistful of Goldfish crackers. Even so, Margaret Rudkin continued to operate Pepperidge Farm as a separate company and, in addition, became a director of Campbell Soup. In 1937, Rudkin's youngest son, John, was diagnosed with asthma. . Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Offering Goldfish crackers become "The Snack That Smiles Back" with the introduction of "Smiley" in 1997. Her father drove a truck, and the family lived with their grandmother until Margaret was 12, when her grandmother died. She acquired the license for the cracker's trademark rights, the shape . That smell of cinnamon raisin toast in the morning as the family scurries around at the start of the day. The Life Summary of Henry Albert. Rudkin was the eldest of her four siblings. To say the family was in financial distress would be an understatement. Rudkins innovations werent strictly in the culinary realm. Based on the advice of a specialist, Margaret put him on a diet of fruits and vegetables and minimally processed foods. What We Talk About When We Talk About American Food. Her cookbook was the first to ever make the bestseller list on the New York Times. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. Her husband retired from Wall Street in 1949 and took over the financial side of the company, while she managed the production and personnel. Having never baked bread before, Rudkin used a recipe from her grandmother's cookbook. Hearing this, Rudkin began to make all of her son's food from scratch, including bread. By Sticky Facts Editorial Staff. TRUE STORIES CAMP, Agriculture in an Industrial Economy. Margaret Rudkin, founder of Pepperidge Farm, had a passion for using the highest-quality wheat flour for her baked goods. Biographical information appears in Sicherman and Green's Notable American Women: The Modern Period (1980). Growth and maintaining quality while expanding were Rudkin's main concerns. Business Leader Profiles for Students. A striking young woman with bright red hair and green eyes, Margaret graduated valedictorian of her high school class, and then spent . Articles appear in Reader's Digest 35 (December 1939); Time 50 (July 14, 1947) and 75 (March 21, 1960); Newsweek 20 (September 21, 1942); The New Yorker (November 16, 1963); and New York Times (December 4, 1949); and her obituary appeared in the New York Times on June 2, 1967. She approached her local grocer to see if he would be willing to sell her "Pepperidge Farm" bread, but he was skeptical. By her own admission, Margaret Rudkin was a perfectionist. Expansion eventually included 58 products including rolls, coffee cake, pound cake, Melba toast, herb-seasoned stuffing made from stale loaves returned by grocers, and fancy cocktail snacks called Goldfish. They handle machines as well as men and theyre marvelous to work with.. This is more a memoir than a cookbook. She was born on December 9, 1927 to Edwin and Malinda (Pfaff) Sun., Feb. 12, 2023. In the early years of their marriage, the Rudkins did well financially, and in 1926, they bought a 125-acre farm in Fairfield, Connecticut, dubbed Pepperidge Farm after an old pepperidge tree on the property. George married Amy Jane Rudkin (born Sponheimer). Rudkin's managerial style allowed company growth in response to consumer demand while retaining quality control of Pepperidge Farm products as the production facilities grew. U.S.A. [3] Rudkin was the first female member of the board of directors at the Campbell Soup Company. According to the 1997 Campbell annual report, the Pepperidge Farm line was considered one of the "jewels in [Campbell's] portfolio, delivering outstanding, double-digit sales growth." In 1926, the two purchased land in Fairfield, Connecticut, built a home and called the estate Pepperidge Farm after the pepperidge tree "Nyssa sylvatica". We encourage you to research and examine these records to . The eclectic book, with art from the Danish illustrator Erik Belgvad, was divided not by the traditional courses but into life stages: Childhood, Country Life, Pepperidge Farm, Ireland. Incorporated: 19, https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/rudkin-margaret-fogarty, https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/margaret-fogarty-rudkin. Born in New York City on September 14, 1897, Margaret Fogarty graduated valedictorian of her New York City public high school class before embarking on a career in business. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. Records may include photos, original documents, family history, relatives, specific dates, locations and full names. Look at what a bunch of women over 40 have done, she told the AP in 1943 of the 125 women working in her bread bakery. Soon her son's doctor, initially skeptical, was prescribing her bread to other patients and her husband was carrying loaves on the train to New York to be sold at specialist grocers. By this time, Pepperidge Farm, within 15 years of its start, was a brand name recognized nationally and was to be found in virtually every market. Her business acumen was recognized by invitations to lecture at the Harvard School of Business Administration. The allergist said the additives in store-bought foods were probably aggravating the condition. Margaret Fogarty Rudkin, also happened to found a business selling home-baked whole-wheat bread and built it into a corporation named after the family's estate . With Carey Latimore, Sarah Wassberg Johnson, Adam Richman, Libby O'Connell. Margaret Rudkin was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery 501 Jerome Ave, in Bronx, Bronx County, New York United States. The . Most online reference entries and articles do not have page numbers. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Dictionary of American Biography. In 1962 she yielded the presidency to her son William and replaced her husband as chairman. stated in. After World War II, and its associated shortages and rationing ended, Margaret Rudkin's plans for expanded bakery production could finally be realized. During a trip to Belgium, Margaret Rudkin discovers delicious and delicate cookies produced by the Delacre Company in Brussels. She first bought wheat berries and milled them in a coffee grinder, and then later found local gristmills, including a water-powered one in South Sudbury, Massachusetts, to stone-grind them. At age 22, Rudkin began working on Wall Street at the brokerage firm of McClure, Jones & Co. Having never baked bread before, Rudkin used a recipe from her grandmother's cookbook. 2023 Pepperidge Farm Incorporated. Margaret (Fogarty) Rudkin was born into a second-generation Irish family in New York in 1897 and grew up to become valedictorian of her high school class. Her husband, a broker on Wall Some were the product of a particular time and place; many are better carried forth as memories, not practices, things worth holding onto only in their haziness. Her husband retired from Wall Street in 1949 and took over the financial side of the company while she managed the production and personnel. Web site: www.statefarm.com Records: 193. Pepperidge Farm founder Margaret Rudkin was one of the great business leaders of her time. She met her husband, Henry Albert Rudkin, at the brokerage house, where he was one of the firm's partners. In 1950 that policy changed with the appearance of Margaret Rudkin in television commercials. If you would like to unsubscribe from your existing email subscription with Campbell's family of brands, please . She also became a part-time public speaker as a kind of hobby. Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love. https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/economics-magazines/rudkin-margaret, "Rudkin, Margaret In 1963, Rudkin wrote her recipes down, calling it the Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook. Documents of George Robert Rudkin. USA ", Margaret's bread was much more than "good"it was the best bread her family and friends ever had. Demand for Pepperidge Farm products caught fire, and production had to shift into high gear. She worked at Wabash Valley Bank as an administrative assistant in the Loan . Like most middle-class American children of the '80s and '90s, I grew up on goldfish crackers, Milano cookies and other foods branded with that famous red banner . Pepperidge Farm, Incorporated was founded in 1937 by Margaret Rudkin of Fairfield, Connecticut. She began baking and selling bread . Margaret Mary Elizabeth Rudkin (born Gammidge) was born on month day 1881, at birth place, to James Benjamin John GAMMIDGE and Mary Ann Naomi GAMMIDGE (born BELL). Rudkin made Pepperidge Farm a household name, largely by making an honest, high-quality product and not compromising quality to reduce price. Her business was later acquired by the Campbell Soup Company, which further expanded the successful brand of baked goods Rudkin had developed. The bread seemed to improve Mark's health, and his allergist asked her to make bread for him and for his other patients. Her husband, who hand-delivered orders on his way to Wall Street in the early years, eventually managed Pepperidge Farms finances and marketing, and two of their sons, Henry, Jr., and William, both joined the company after attending Yale and completing their wartime service. It had no business model, no strategic plan. Fax: (617) 828-9012 Rudkin maintained quality control despite the massive expansion. The first years of the Rudkins' marriage were prosperous. Business Leader Profiles for Students. : Directed by Brad Grimm. They moved to a bigger plant in Norwalk and later opened plants in Pennsylvania in 1947 and Illinois in 1953. Research genealogy for Margaret Rudkin of Liverpool, Lancashire, England, as well as other members of the Rudkin family, on Ancestry. 12, when her grandmother 's cookbook Successful brand of baked goods an understatement start of the Company she... Between those memoir-ish chapters of recipes and stories, was diagnosed with asthma,... 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