Ira “Bob” Born, a candy company executive known as the “Father of the Peeps” for mechanizing the process to make marshmallow chicks, has died at the age of 98.
Just Born Quality Confections, the 100-year-old family business that Born has run for much of his life, said Monday that he died peacefully at his home in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, on Sunday, January 29.
“Bob will be remembered as a tireless and passionate advocate for the confectionery industry and a wonderful supporter of our community,” said David Shaffer, Just Born chairman and co-CEO, in a statement. “Bob was our second generation family member whose dedication was instrumental in helping Just Born reach our 100 year milestone. We extend our deepest condolences to his son Ross and the entire family.’
Born began life on September 29, 1924 in New York City. His father, Sam Born, was a Russian immigrant who had trained as a pastry chef in France and founded Just Born just before his son was born. His father developed a method of connecting lollipop sticks to the candy and even created a chocolate that quickly set around ice cream.
The business prospered during the Great Depression, and the family later relocated from Brooklyn, New York, to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1932, where Just Born is still based.
Ira ‘Bob’ Born died Sunday at his home in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania
He was known as the “Father of the Peeps” for developing the machines to automate the marshmallow process
Bob Born graduated from Lehigh University with a degree in engineering physics. He enlisted in the US Navy and served as a radar specialist and lieutenant on a destroyer in the Pacific. The Navy later sent him to the University of Arizona and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for graduate work in mathematics and physics.
Born applied to medical school and was accepted, but while waiting for his classes to start he went to work at Just Born. He fell in love with the candy business and decided to stay.
“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 interested in the equipment.’
In 1953, Just Born acquired Rodda Candy Co., a jelly bean maker that made hand-molded marshmallows as a side business. Back then, it took about 27 hours to make the marshmallows.
When asked why he was considering automating the process when the original company hadn’t done so for 50 years, he simply told the Allentown Morning Call that he “don’t know” why, but “we will.” .
Born began life on September 29, 1924 in New York City. His father, Sam Born, was a Russian immigrant who had trained as a pastry chef in France and founded Just Born just before his son was born
Born graduated from Lehigh University with a degree in engineering physics. He enlisted in the US Navy and served as a radar specialist and lieutenant on a destroyer in the Pacific. He later applied to medical school and was accepted, but while waiting for his classes to start he went to work at Just Born. He fell in love with the candy business and decided to stay
A salesman said to him, “All the young people think you’re Edison.”
Bob Born saw the potential of the candies, so it took him and a company engineer nine months to design and build a machine that could make them in under six minutes.
“There was a lot of trial and error,” Bob told the Associated Press in 2003. “We took so many samples that some of them looked like seals at first. So we had to try again.’
After automating the system, Peeps started flying off the shelf. They became a mainstay in Easter baskets in the 1980s.
The company’s current machines, still based on Bob Born’s design, now pump out 5.5 million peeps a day.
Seventy years later, Peeps remains Just Born’s best-known candy brand, the company says. Just Born makes around 2 billion peeps each year, or enough to circumnavigate the earth two and a half times. It sells the most around Easter, but there are also versions sold for Halloween, Valentine’s Day, and other holidays.
After automating the process, the company now produces 5.5 million peeps per day
Bob Born also came up with the recipe for another popular Just Born candy, Hot Tamales. Just Born also makes fruit chews from Mike and Ike – who originated the Hot Tamales – and Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews.
Bob Born became President of Just Born in 1959 and held that role for more than 30 years. He last visited the Just Born factory on February 15, 2019, when the City of Bethlehem declared the first day of Easter as “Bob Born Day.”
He spent most of his retirement in Florida, where he ran a literacy program and pursued hobbies such as photography. He was active until a few months before his death, when he was struggling to recover from a serious fall.
“Bob will be remembered as a tireless and passionate advocate for the confectionery industry and a wonderful supporter of our community,” said David Shaffer, co-CEO and chairman of Just Born, in a statement released by the company.
He is survived by his widow Patricia; children Sarah and Ross; five grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. His funeral will be private.