Ira Brahm "Bob" Born (September 29, 1924 – January 29, 2023) was an American businessperson and inventor in the confectionery industry. For more than thirty years, he was president of Just Born Quality Confections, a family-owned candy manufacturer founded by his father Sam Born. Bob became known as the "Father of Peeps" for automating the production of an Easter marshmallow treat.[1]
In 1945, Born joined his father's company, Just Born.[5] In 1950, he developed a process to turn unused Mike and Ike candies into a new product, Hot Tamales, by remelting them and adding hot cinnamon flavor.[6] In 1953, the company acquired the Rodda Candy Company, known for its jelly beans. Rodda also made novelty marshmallow chicks, Peeps, as early as 1925.[7] The manual process took 27 hours to produce one. By studying the process and designing a simpler Peep, Born, along with another engineer, created an automated system that took only 6 minutes to produce one.[5] The company now makes over five million a day, with most of the sales occurring during the Easter season.[2][8]
Born became president of the company in 1959.[2] He was succeeded by his son Ross Born and his cousin David Shaffer as co-presidents in 1992.[5] Bob Born Day was celebrated in Bethlehem on February 15, 2019, led by its mayor Robert Donchez.[9]
Born was married three times. He was first married to Maxine Appell (1933–1974), a healthcare professional. They had a son, born in 1953,[10] and a daughter.[11] He next married Elaine Selwyn (1933–2008);[12] they were together until her death in 2008. At the time of his death, he was married to Patricia Guggenheim.[2] He retired to West Palm Beach, Florida.[13] He died at his home in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania on January 29, 2023.[2]
^Dupzyk, Kevin (April 6, 2023). "A Visit to the Peeps Factory". The New York Times. Photographs by Christopher Payne. That all changed in 1954. That's when Bob Born, who was a member of the family that founded the company, and a colleague invented a machine that could make Peeps automatically.