Willard Lawson Radcliff (December 20, 1939 – September 18, 2014) was an American businessman who created the

Slush Puppie Slush Puppie (stylized as SLUSH PUPPiE) is a slush beverage created in 1970, and marketed both directly by the Slush Puppie division of J&J Snack Foods, and through its Slush Puppie distributors in the United States and Canada. A Slush Puppie ...

, a frozen slush drink. He also founded Slush Puppie Corp. in 1970, which grew to $25 million in worldwide annual sales by 1999. In 2000, Radcliff sold Slush Puppie to

Cadbury Schweppes Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational corporation, multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods, Inc., Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest c ...

for $16.6 million. Slush Puppie was acquired by

J & J Snack Foods J&J Snack Foods Corp. (JJSFC) is an American manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of name brand snack foods and frozen beverages. Headquartered in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, Mt. Laurel, NJ, JJSF uses over 175 facilities for manufacturing, ware ...

in 2006.

Life and career

Radcliff was born on December 20, 1939, in

Dayton, Kentucky The City of Dayton, Kentucky, is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city along a bend of the Ohio River in Campbell County, Kentucky, Campbell County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 5,666 at the 2020 United States census, 2 ...

, and raised in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, Ohio. He graduated from Cincinnati's Western Hills High School in 1958. Prior to founding Slush Puppie, Radcliff held jobs as a shoe shiner at a country club, a vacuum cleaner salesman and a peanut seller. As the Slush Puppie Corp. expanded, Radcliff added additional products, including Thelma's frozen lemonade, Pacific Bay Smooth-E, and Lanikai Frozen Cocktail. In the 1980s, Radcliff became interested in land surrounding

Umatilla, Florida Umatilla is a city in Lake County, Florida, United States. The population was 3,685 at the 2020 census. Umatilla is known as the Gateway to the Ocala National Forest, located in northern Lake County. History The city was named after Umatilla, ...

, while visiting friends in the 1980s. He acquired approximately 3,594 acres of wilderness and

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

land when "was nothing there but lots of cattle," according to his daughter, DeeAnn Radcliff Harmon. Radcliff regularly flew in a private plane between his home in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

and his ranch in

Central Florida Central Florida is a Regions of the United States#Florida, region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, in ...

. He called it Radcliff's Fly'n R Ranch, located in

Lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

and

Marion Marion or MARION may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Marion (band), a British alternative rock group * ''Marion'' (miniseries), a 1974 miniseries * ''Marion'' (1920 film), an Italian silent film * ''Marion'' (2024 film), a UK short People a ...

counties. He built a 19,990-square-foot barn complete with a

lumber mill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimens ...

, to saw the wooden boards used to construct his ranch house. Radcliff became seriously interested in land conservation following the sale of Slush Puppie for $16.6 million in 2000. Much of the Floridian land which Radlciff owned had been drained for cattle ranching or pasture land. Radcliff oversaw the restoration of much of the land to a more natural state and completed most of the work himself. He dredged his marshes to restore area lakes, which created habitat for

osprey The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It ...

waterfowl Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which i ...

and

wading bird Birders in Canada and the United States refer to several families of long-legged wading birds in semi-aquatic ecosystems as waders. These include the families Phoenicopteridae (flamingos), Ciconiidae (storks), Threskiornithidae (ibises and s ...

s. Under an agreement, 3,106 acres of his ranch was passed to the state-owned St. Johns River Water Management District upon his death in 2014. Negotiations between Radcliff and St. Johns River Water Management District officials took years to complete. A provision allowing Radcliff to remain on the ranch led to a final agreement, in which Radlciff received $5.2 million for the future rights to his land. The 3,105 acres will be turned into a Florida state-owned water and

wildlife sanctuary A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geolog ...

. Water Management District see Radcliff's ranch as a key corridor connecting the

Ocala National Forest The Ocala National Forest is the second largest nationally protected forest in the U.S. State of Florida. It covers of North Central Florida. It is located east of Ocala, Florida, Ocala and southeast of Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The ...

, Lake Griffin State Park, and the

Ocklawaha River The U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 21, 2011 Ocklawaha River flows north from central Florida until it joins the St. Johns River near Palatka. Its name is deriv ...

. The remaining 500 acres of his ranch, including his home, will remain the property of his estate, with an easement to prohibit the development of the land. Will Radcliff died in Cincinnati, Ohio, from complications of a fall on September 18, 2014, at the age of 74. He was survived by his daughter, DeeAnn Radcliff Harmon; son, Chris Radcliff; his brother; and four grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radcliff, Will 1939 births 2014 deaths Drink company founders American food company founders American drink industry businesspeople Businesspeople from Cincinnati People from Umatilla, Florida People from Dayton, Kentucky 20th-century American businesspeople Businesspeople from Kentucky Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in Ohio