Daniel Thompson (January 16, 1921 – September 3, 2015) was a Canadian-born American inventor and entrepreneur. Thompson was best known as the inventor of the first commercially viable bagel machine, which allowed for the mass production and mass marketing of the bagel to a wider consumer market.

Early years

Daniel Thompson was born Abraham Thomas Thompson on January 16, 1921, in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, Canada. Within weeks of his birth, his parents changed his name to Daniel to honor a recently deceased cousin. While Thompson was still a child, his family moved to

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, and his father set up a bakery in Boyle Heights. After graduating Fairfax High School, Thompson joined the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

and served in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II. He then returned home to attend the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

and study Industrial Arts and Mathematics. After graduating, he became a teacher, working on his own inventions in his spare time. In 1953, his " Folding Table, Tennis Table, or the Like" was given a U.S. patent.

Bagel business

The bagel had been largely a Jewish specialty food item prior to Thompson's invention of the "Thompson Bagel Machine," which he began building in his garage in Cheviot Hills, Los Angeles, in 1958. This popularized bagels and made them available to a wider consumer base.

Personal life

In 1946, Thompson married Ada Schatz. They had three children. Thompson died in Palm Desert, California, of complications from a fall on September 3, 2015, at the age of 94.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Daniel 1921 births 2015 deaths American inventors Jewish American military personnel Canadian emigrants to the United States University of California, Los Angeles alumni People from Boyle Heights, Los Angeles People from Los Angeles 21st-century American Jews