Margaret Rudkin (née Fogarty) (September 14, 1897 - June 1, 1967), of Fairfield, Connecticut, was the founder of Pepperidge Farm.
Born in Manhattan, she was the eldest of five children of Joseph and Margaret Healy Fogarty. She was taught to cook by her grandmother, who started her off with cakes and biscuits. She moved to Long Island when she was 12. Rudkin graduated valedictorian from her high school; afterwards, she worked as a teller in a bank. In 1919, Rudkin got a job with McClure Jones and Co., where she met her future husband, Henry Albert Rudkin. They were married on April 8, 1923, and together they had three sons. In 1926, the two purchased land in Fairfield, built a home and called the estate Pepperidge Farm after the pepperidge tree "Nyssa sylvatica". Although fairly well off, they suffered somewhat during the Great Depression and made ends meet by selling apples and turkeys.
Margaret Rudkin was inspired to found Pepperidge Farm due to her son Mark's asthma. His reactions to preservatives and artificial ingredients prevented him from eating commercially prepared bread. She created her first product, a whole wheat bread, and offered it to the local doctor, who immediately ordered it to sell to his patients. Rudkin was soon selling it in her town and four months later she was selling it in New York with her husband as delivery man. Soon she was distributing her bread (both whole wheat and white loaves) across the country.
Within three years the endeavor had outgrown the small farm bakery and a large commercial bakery was opened in Norwalk on July 4, 1947. Although World War II caused problems due to rationing, the bakery was producing 50,000 loaves a week in 1948.
By 1950 Rudkin was appearing in commercials on television. At the same time, under her management the bakery was expanding into other products, including the Goldfish snack. In 1961 she sold the business to the Campbell Soup Company and became a director of that company.
Although having sold Pepperidge Farm, she still ran the company until her retirement in 1966. Margaret Rudkin died of breast cancer in 1967 at the age of 69. According to June 2, 1967, article in the New York Times, she was survived by her three sons. Her husband had died the year before. She is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York City. Her son Mark became a landscape architect known for working on famous gardens in France, such as the Jardins du Nouveau Monde.
Video Margaret Rudkin
References
- Margaret Rudkin at bookrags.com
- Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame
- Pepperidge Farm history
- The Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook, Atheneum 1963
- New York Times article, June 2, 1967
- Garden Design article
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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