There Really WAS an Oscar Mayer!

Posted July 9, 2009, 10:15 am in Career

How would you like your name to be synonymous with a wiener? It worked out pretty well for Oscar G. Mayer. He spent his life growing and developing one of the largest meat processing companies in the world. Mayer died at the age of 95.

It was Oscar's grandfather, Oscar Mayer who went into the meat business in the late 1800s. In 1893, it was a big hit at the Chicago World's Fair, and the business was off and running! His son, Oscar Mayer, also ran the company, before yielding to his son, Oscar Mayer!

He was quite a character, too. He headed the company until he retired in 1977. Soon after, it was sold to General Foods and now is owned by Kraft. And if you don't think a being a meat-mogul has some rock star qualities to it, in 1999, at the age of 85 he married a 21-year-old!

And how many corporate icons can you think of whose name is immortalized in a children's song? All because Oscar Mayer had a way with b-o-l-o-g-n-a!