Oscar Mayer, hot dog legend, dies at 95
Filed under: Company News, People
Oscar G. Mayer, who transformed his family business into one of the the world's largest meat processors, died Monday. He was 95.
The fact that most of the public probably did not know that "Oscar Mayer" was a real person -- actually he was the third member of his family to have that name -- was fine with him, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. He liked his anonymity, even as his company became one of the largest private employers in Madison, Wisconsin.
"Ironically, although Mayer had, perhaps, the most famous name in Madison, many local residents didn't even know he was a real person," the newspaper said. "The company long used a midget, 'Little Oscar,' as its spokesman and the real Oscar Mayer, a tall, dignified and courtly man, rarely sought publicity."
Mayer retired as chairman of Oscar Mayer in 1977 at the age of 62, the year that the company first posted $1 billion in revenue, though he continued to consult with management. Four years later, the company was sold to General Foods, a predecessor of Kraft Inc. (KFT).
The business was founded by his grandfather, Oscar F. Mayer, a Bavarian immigrant who started his career in 1873 at the age of 14 as a "butcher's boy" in a Detroit meat market. Ten years later Oscar, along with his brothers Gottfried and Max, opened a meat market, according to the Kraft web site. It was one of the first companies to volunteer to join the then-new federal meat inspection program. Oscar F. Mayer died in 1955 and Mayer's father, Oscar G. Mayer Sr., died in 1965.
Mayer's death underscores the human element of business that gets lost in today's world of mega-mergers. Consumers forget that there people named McDonald --actually they were brothers -- who operated a burger chain that Ray Kroc acquired and made famous. The Ford family still plays an active role in the Ford Motor Co. (F) and the Sulzbergers control the New York Times Co. (NYT). But these are the exceptions.
Media reports indicate that Mayer was proud of his family business. I also suspect that Mayer could have easily slipped into a deli to watch consumers buying his bologna, then slipped out the door without being recognized.
In these days of imperial CEOs, who are more worried about their pay than about their shareholders, that's kind of nice.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
7-08-2009 @ 2:41PM
Bethe said...
Re: Death of Oscar Mayer...My first impression was how politcally incorrect the word "miget" is.
Then wondered if this was a direct quote from the "Wisconsin State Journal", so I clicked the link. At this point I was told that there is no such publication or online.
This makes me wonder where you obtain your sources or if this story is true. Would I publish an untruth, no. I need sources.
Reply
7-08-2009 @ 2:49PM
Aredee said...
I live in Madison, WI, and the Wisconsin State Journal IS (unfortunately) our only daily paper, since the Capital Times stopped its daily edition a year ago.
7-08-2009 @ 2:51PM
Aredee said...
I live in Madison, WI, and the Wisconsin State Journal IS (unfortunately) our only daily paper, since the Capital Times stopped its daily edition a year ago. Its online edition is part of this web site, although the server may be having some problems today (7/8):
http://www.madison.com/
7-08-2009 @ 3:11PM
John said...
Bethe
I live in Madison and I believe there site is at madison.com/wsj
7-08-2009 @ 4:54PM
Mark said...
I agree with Bethe's comment about using the word "midget." There is talk now of banning that word on TV and substituting "Little person" or little people."
The author stated that the real Oscar Mayer was tall and dignified. What are "little people" undignified?
How callous!
7-08-2009 @ 6:17PM
Roger said...
Wisconsin State Journal is a real magazine - You can check your local library. The local library here (near Chicago) carries it, and if yours doesn't then your librarian can help you find a library that does.
It's illogical to assume that just because you can't find something easily on-line, that anyone who cites it must be lying. It says something about you, doesn't it?
7-08-2009 @ 6:21PM
Jim said...
I found the Wisconsin State Journal ... why couldn't you?
7-11-2009 @ 9:29AM
Curious said...
Does this mean I won't be able to attend "midget" car races?
I'd feel silly going to "munchkin" races, or "little" persons races. I find this issue on the ban of the word midget a very small thing.
7-11-2009 @ 2:56PM
Buddy said...
Not sure what happened when you clicked, I tired the link and went to the paper.
As far as the word midget not being pc, what would you suggest? I once met the then Oscar and he was indeed a midget. He was in S. Cal. and drove that big wiener mobile to a Von grocery store for a sales promotion. Was dressed in cooks whites with a chef hat. He was a midget and I am fat. No other way to put it and be more pc...well guess that there is...stature challenged? and for me...round in stature?
7-08-2009 @ 3:00PM
SteveO said...
I grew up in Maple Bluff (a tiny village surrounded by Madison) near the Mayers. We would go by their house on Halloween for trick-or-treat and they would serve .........................hotdogs! Great memories.
Reply
7-08-2009 @ 3:04PM
Richard Blaine said...
Can you use the word "midget" w/o loosing the PC Nazis?
Reply
7-08-2009 @ 3:13PM
jezebelle said...
Years ago my parents had a friend who worked for the Oscar Mayer co. and he just so happened to be a midget. He drove the big "hot dog car" and whenever he was in town he'd come by and honk the horn( which played the theme song) and all the neighbor kids would come running out to wave at him. He told my folks that he had the highest respect for the co. and his boss. It might not have been politically correct for this day and age, but the reality is that in the 50's and 60's peoples lives were not run and governed by attorneys. He was happy to have the job and yes they used midgets and yes he loved it. I believe for all you political do-gooders, the term might be called, affirmative action. Ring a bell?
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7-08-2009 @ 3:50PM
georgie said...
I was waiting for someone to talk about the midget. I grew up thinking he was actually Oscar Mayer! My sister and I would get more excited seeing him in the "Wiener Car" than the ice cream man. I thought that was the coolest car around, and in those days 1957, it probably was. He shook my hand many times and was the coolest guy, and my parents will never forget those whistles he used to give out. They looked like little red wieners, called "wiener whistles". Drove our parents crazy! Life was so much very simpler then, but we didn't have Sammy Hagar back then either!
7-11-2009 @ 9:40AM
My Take on it said...
I find the word Munchkin much more offensive to describe little people than the word midget. I feel the politically correct "Dunkin Donuts Corp." which removed Rachael Ray from a commercial because the scarf she wore looked like a prayer shawl, should also be politically correct and rename its "Munchkin " line of products to "Donut Holes" which they are!
The word "Munchkin" was used to describe the midgets in the 1939 version of Wizard of Oz.
7-08-2009 @ 3:25PM
Frisk said...
I real Icon has died. Are they going to glorify it the way we have glorified the death of a child molester ?? NO.... a shame a real shame that the news is filled everyday because a child molester who just happens to be a singer dies. But this man dies, and who knows it ??.....THIS COUNTRY NEEDS REDEFINING.
Reply
7-08-2009 @ 6:03PM
Mike's friend said...
He wasn't a child molester. He was found not guilty on all charges.
7-08-2009 @ 7:14PM
ToughLove said...
WTH, Our country, and laws state that a person is presumed innocent until convicted. Michael was never convicted of anything. As for drugs, with assholes like those knocking the dead, your attitudes would drive anyone to them. GOD and only GOD will be the one to judge the dead and the living. When it's your turn you will all probably sit and cry your asses off, and I can promise you that you will have to answer for you judgements of others, and those others will have to forgive you before GOD will let you in.
Gaurd your words and thoughts, because ignorance will only find you in HELL. God Bless you all. Try Loving each other for a change. You might find that your lives are richer for it.
7-08-2009 @ 3:30PM
TK said...
My bologna has a first name
its O-S-C-A-R
My bologna has second name
its M-A-Y-E-R
I love to eat it everyday
And if you ask my why I'll saaaaaayyyy,
Cuz Oscar Mayer has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A
*I loved the oscar mayer songs growing up. Never like the food but the songs were catchy!*
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7-08-2009 @ 3:33PM
Mike said...
MIDGET! MIDGET! MIDGET! LOL. WTF?
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7-09-2009 @ 9:25AM
spiceypinot said...
Oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener ...........................
That is what I truly want to beee-eee-eee ...............
'Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener .........................
Everyone would be in Love with Me ! ! ! !
R.I.P. Oscar ! !
Reply