Arnold Nawrocki, 78, inventor of sliced cheese -- alt.stiffs.com

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, [4] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 18:21:46 07/10/03 Thu
Author: Northern Reaper
Author Host/IP: 24.100.249.51
Subject:

Arnold Nawrocki, 78, inventor of sliced cheese

Arnold Nawrocki, cheese innovator
By Gayle Ronan Sims
Inquirer Staff Writer

The creator of the next-best thing since sliced bread, a hero to anyone who ever wanted a quick grilled-cheese sandwich, has died.

Arnold N. Nawrocki, 78, who made eating processed cheese more convenient for billions of consumers by developing individually wrapped slices, died June 30 in Sun City, Ariz.

Back when Harry S. Truman was president, Mr. Nawrocki put his chemical engineering degree from Purdue University to work and began his quest.

As quality-assurance manager for Swift & Co. in Chicago in 1950, he developed his first U.S. patent for shrink-wrap packaging of large hunks of cheese. This led to the casting of thin, hot cheese between two sheets of wax-coated cellophane, which he cut and formed into stacks of individually wrapped slices.

They were beautiful and expensive. The slices were next to impossible to open and were covered with wax. The project was killed.

Had Mr. Nawrocki not met William D. Tate, who owned Clearfield Cheese Co. in Curwensville, Pa., it could have been years before consumers got individually wrapped slices.

As technical director for Clearfield, Mr. Nawrocki developed a method to produce 600 perfect slices per minute.

In 1956, Clearfield's first successful run of individually wrapped slices was sold.

"From the time I was 3, Dad would bring cheese slices home to see if I could unwrap them. I guess he figured if a toddler could unwrap the cheese, Mrs. Homemaker could also," said his son David, a professor of finance at Villanova University.

By 1962, the Pennsylvania plant was producing 10 million pounds of cheese a year. Mr. Nawrocki's invention dominated the market for almost 10 years until a major competitor came out with a product.

He left Clearfield Cheese in 1972 and went to work as quality-control manager at Pauly Cheese Co. in Green Bay, Wis., until he retired in 1985.

"Dad was fairly shy about his accomplishments. He did tell me once that he retired with 12 patents," his son said.

Mr. Nawrocki was not a wealthy man from the patents, which were assigned to the corporations that provided research resources. They paid Mr. Nawrocki $1 for each patent.

"Dad had a number of $1 checks from Swift and Clearfield Cheese. I have the one for the separately wrapped cheese slices," David Nawrocki said.

Mr. Nawrocki was born and raised in Michigan City, Ind., and died of of polycystic kidney disease at his home in Sun City. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Jean Kettring Nawrocki; sons David, Bill and Philip; daughters Janice Nawrocki-Storms and Carolyn Oberfeld; and seven grandchildren.

Northern "does this count as famous" Reaper

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Re: Arnold Nawrocki, 78, inventor of sliced cheese -- Wracked, 18:30:23 07/10/03 Thu
Re: Arnold Nawrocki, 78, inventor of sliced cheese -- Rubber Duck, 22:10:05 07/10/03 Thu
Re: Arnold Nawrocki, 78, inventor of sliced cheese -- Diane Goodman, 23:45:48 07/10/03 Thu
Re: Arnold Nawrocki, 78, inventor of sliced cheese -- gbdfbgdf, 13:57:11 08/29/04 Sun