Margaret Rudkin

Margaret Rudkin
Born
Margaret Fogarty

(1897-09-14)September 14, 1897
New York City, US
DiedJune 1, 1967(1967-06-01) (aged 69)
New Haven, Connecticut, US
Other namesMargaret Fogarty Rudkin
Occupation(s)Baker, businesswoman
Known forFounder of Pepperidge Farm, first woman on the board of directors at Campbell Soup Company
SpouseHenry Albert Rudkin
Children3

Margaret Loreta Rudkin (née Fogarty; September 14, 1897 – June 1, 1967) was an American businesswoman who started Pepperidge Farm and was the first woman of the board at the Campbell Soup Company.

Early life

On September 14, 1897, Rudkin was born as Margaret Loreta Fogarty in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Rudkin's parents were Joseph J. Fogarty, an Irish clerk, and Margaret Healy. She was the oldest of her four siblings. Rudkin had red hair and green eyes. Rudkin learned cooking from her grandmother, who started her off with cakes and biscuits. The family moved to Flushing, Queens, after her grandmother's death. She studied finance and graduated as a top student from her high school.

Career

At first, she worked as a bank teller in Flushing. In 1919, she got a job at the investment company McClure Jones and Co., where she met her husband, Henry Rudkin, a Wall Street stock broker. They got married in 1923. She quit her job at the beginning of the Great Depression and moved to a farm in Fairfield, Connecticut, though they had no experience being on a farm.

She would use the skills her grandmother taught her when making bread. Her son's asthma and allergies were to over-processed food and preservatives, so his doctor recommended a diet of fruits, vegetables, and other foods that weren't processed as much. Using her grandmother's recipe, Rudkin decided to make whole wheat bread – more nutritious than store-bought white bread, which lost vitamins and minerals in processing and was artificially supported. Other ingredients she used were whole milk, butter, honey, and molasses.

Though she had a hard time in her first attempts, she came up with a type of bread that tasted good. She proudly showed the doctor her creation. He wrote a letter supporting it and began to recommend the bread to his other patients. She also visited other doctors, who liked her bread and showed it to their patients.

Her husband joined the company in 1949 and it became a family business. The couple traveled to Europe in the 1950s, which would inspire a number of products such as Milanos and Goldfish crackers. Rudkin sold Pepperidge Farm to Campbell Soup Company in 1961 for $28.2 million in stock, gaining a large profit from her 24-year-old investment and becoming Campbell's first female board member.

Personal life

On April 8, 1923, Rudkin married Henry Albert Rudkin. They had three sons. On April 22, 1966, Rudkin's husband died at the age of 80. On June 1, 1967, Rudkin died of breast cancer at Yale-New Haven hospital in New Haven, Connecticut. She was 69.

Rudkin is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City. Her son Mark became a landscape builder known for working on famous gardens in France, such as the Jardins du Nouveau Monde.

References

  1. ↑ Great Lives From History. American Women Series. Vol. 5. Pasadena: Salem Press. 1995. pp. 1561, 1562. ISBN 089356897X – via Archive.org.
  2. ↑ Kramer, Barbara (2001). "Margaret Rudkin: An Old-fashioned Idea". The founders of famous food companies. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers. ISBN 9780766015371 – via Archive.org.
  3. ↑ Uyehara, Mari (February 21, 2019). "The Remarkable Life of Margaret Rudkin, Founder of Pepperidge Farm". TASTE. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  4. ↑ "Mothers of invention: Margaret Rudkin". Color Powder Systems. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Champion of the Old-Fashioned: Business: Margaret Rudkin". Time. Time Inc. March 21, 1960. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  6. ↑ Prince, Cathryn J. (Winter 2015–2016). "Pepperidge Farm: Healthful Bread Builds a Business". Connecticut Explored. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  7. ↑ Much, Marilyn (May 10, 2019). "How Margaret Rudkin used a loaf of bread to turn Pepperidge farm into an industry dynamo". Investor's Business Daily. Retrieved December 7, 2023.
  8. ↑ Papazian, Rita (2007). Remembering Fairfield: Famous People & Historic Places. The History Press. p. 70. ISBN 9781596292390.
  9. ↑ "Mrs. Margaret Rudkin is Dead; Founder of Pepperidge Farm; Home-Baked Business Grew to $50-Million Yearly and National Distribution". The New York Times. June 2, 1967. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  10. ↑ "Margaret Rudkin - Notable". Woodlawn Cemetery. Retrieved January 28, 2024.
  11. ↑ "An American Gardener Working in Paris". Garden Design. Retrieved January 28, 2024.

Further reading

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