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Quick Frozen
Foods International News
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| McCain Foods Founder Harrison McCain Dies at 76 |
Harrison McCain, co-founder and Founding Chairman of McCain
Foods Limited, died Thursday, March 18, at Lahey Clinic in
Boston. Mr. McCain, 76, had been in declining health for some
time.
He directed the growth of McCain Foods for 45 years as it
grew from a small French fry processing operation in
Florenceville, New Brunswick, Canada, to the worlds largest
producer of French fries and a $6.4 billion a year international
frozen food firm.
Although still best known for fries at the time of his death,
he had built McCain Foods into the largest privately held frozen
food company in the world, based on just about every continent
(including Africa) and producing not just french fries but
vegetables, egg rolls, cheese appetizers, pizza and ready meals.
Mr. McCain was modest about his success.
"We have been fortunate to have very good people who made it
possible," he once told Quick Frozen Foods International. "Brand
building has always been in the forefront. This is only possible
if the brands are consistently produced, which requires good
factories and good people to run them."
He was also committed to the consumer, and that was what
determined his position in the controversial issue of
genetically modified foods:
"We will not sell anything that the consumer does not want,"
he declared. "Our business is to provide customers with safe,
wholesome, innovative products -- and that's exactly what he do,
Testing procedures have been put into place to make sure that
genetically modified potatoes do not enter our processing
plants."
Yet he was always looking to the future, to new markets.
"Emerging economies have to be seriously considered, which
presents both good possibilities and difficult challenges," he
explained. "You can't build gigantic plants in developing
countries, because the market just isn't there to support it.
And in some countries the costs are higher than they should be.
But you have to take a chance on the future."
Mr. McCain was the inaugural recipient of QFFI's Golden Ice
Crystal Award in 1997 -- recognition that he was a true giant of
the industry who had taken such chances again and again -- and
he was inducted into the New Brunswick Business Hall of Fame the
same year. Other honors include the Canadian Business Hall of
Fame, Financial Post Chief Executive Officer of the Year in
1990, Companion of the Order of Canada, and Honorary Life Member
of the Potato Association of America.
He is survived by a son Mark McCain, Toronto; three
daughters, Ann Evans, Toronto; Laura McCain-Jensen, Jordan
Station, Ont.; Gillian McCain, New York; a brother, Wallace
McCain, Toronto; a sister, Marie Sutherland, Woodstock, N.B.,
and three grandsons. He was predeceased by his wife Marion
(McNair), son Peter and brothers Robert and Andrew, and sister
Eleanor Johnson.
A native of Florenceville, Harrison McCain was born November
3, 1927, the son of Andrew D. McCain, a pioneer seed potato
exporter, and Laura (Perley) McCain C.M. He graduated from
Florenceville High School and attended Acadia University where
he received a bachelor of arts degree in economics in 1949.
After several years in sales with Irving Oil Ltd., Mr. McCain
left at the age of 29 to pursue an independent career. On May
24, 1956, the four McCain brothers: Andrew, Robert, Harrison and
Wallace, founded McCain Foods Limited. Harrison and Wallace
assumed active management roles in the new company while older
brothers Andrew and Robert became directors.
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| 26-Mar-04 |
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