Donald Edward Goerke (August 8, 1926 – January 10, 2010) was an American business executive and food developer. While working for the Franco-American division of the

Campbell Soup Company The Campbell's Company (doing business as Campbell's and formerly known as the Campbell Soup Company) is an American company, most closely associated with its flagship canned soup products. The classic red-and-white can design used by many Campbe ...

in 1965, he invented

SpaghettiOs SpaghettiOs is an American brand of canned ring-shaped pasta in tomato sauce. It is marketed for children as "less messy" than regular spaghetti. More than 150 million cans of SpaghettiOs are sold each year. SpaghettiOs are sold in tomato sauce a ...

, and was thereafter known as "The Daddy-O of SpaghettiOs."

Biography

Born in

Waukesha, Wisconsin Waukesha ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 71,158 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along the Fox River (Illinois River tributary), Fox River adjacent to th ...

, Goerke played for the Waukesha South High School basketball team that won the Wisconsin state championship in 1944. He served in the U.S. Army Air Force during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and received a bachelor's degree from

Carroll College Carroll College is a private Catholic college in Helena, Montana. The college has 21 buildings on a 63-acre campus, has over 35 academic majors, participates in 15 NAIA athletic sports, and is home to All Saints Chapel. The college motto, in L ...

after the war. He also received an M.B.A. from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. Goerke began his career as a market researcher for Blatz Brewery in Wisconsin. He worked for the Campbell Soup Company for 35 years from 1955 until 1990. In the early 1960s, Goerke was marketing research director of Campbell's Franco-American division when he was tasked with developing a canned pasta that would appeal to children. Goerke's team reportedly considered and rejected pasta and sauce in the shapes of baseballs, cowboys, spacemen and stars. Goerke settled on the "O" shape to make the pasta more resilient to canning and reheating, provide easier consumption using a spoon, and minimize the mess associated with children eating long pasta. The product, promoted in commercials with

Jimmie Rodgers James Charles Rodgers ( – ) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Country Music", he is best known for his di ...

singing the jingle, "The neat, round spaghetti you can eat with a spoon: Uh-oh, SpaghettiOs," became a major success. Goerke attributed the product's enduring popularity with mothers and children to the fact that "it was 'spoonable' and didn't make a mess." Goerke earned the nickname the "Daddy-O of SpaghettiOs", and served as a goodwill ambassador for the Campbell Soup Company. He appeared on the television program "

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a Panel show, panel game show that originally ran in the United States, between 1950 and 1967, on CBS, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent American revivals. The game uses celebrity panelists ...

". and "hobnobbed with celebrities" including President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

and

Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail business woman, writer, and television personality. As the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, focusing on home and hospitality, she gained success through a variety ...

. He would occasionally autograph a can of SpaghettiOs and appeared on

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

to celebrate the 30th anniversary of SpaghettiOs. In his 35 years with Campbell Soup Company, Goerke also created the company's "Chunky" soup line. He later served as the president of Campbell's Champion Valley Farms division that produced Recipe Dog Food, the sponsor of the

Lassie Lassie is a fictional female Rough Collie dog and is featured in a 1938 short story by Eric Knight that was later expanded to a 1940 full-length novel, '' Lassie Come-Home''. Knight's portrayal of Lassie bears some features in common with anot ...

television series. Goerke died from heart failure at his home in

Delran Township, New Jersey Delran Township is a township in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 17,882, an increase of 986 (+5.8%) from the 2010 census count of 16,896, which in turn ref ...

, in January 2010.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goerke, Donald 1926 births 2010 deaths American food industry business executives People from Delran Township, New Jersey People from Waukesha, Wisconsin Wisconsin School of Business alumni Campbell's people Carroll University alumni American business executives Businesspeople from Wisconsin 20th-century American businesspeople Businesspeople from Burlington County, New Jersey