A few months back Lester Borchardt, inventor (discoverer?) of Cheerios, passed away at the age of 99. As it turns out, Lester was not the first great cereal imangineer to expunge himself from this mortal coil, nor will he be the last…

On August 28, 2000, John Holahan lost his life in a tragic car accident. Holahan invented Lucky Charms in 1962 while working as a Vice President of Manufacturing for General Mills. He was inspired by those deliciously orange marshmallow circus peanuts candies and decided to chop some up into his Cheerios. Holahan worked with Kraft foods to produce some tiny marshmallows to mix with Cheerios for a focus group and the concoction was met with great applause. So much applause in fact, that the product was immediately shipped over to the gurus at Sales and Advertising who came up with the moon, star, heart and clover shapes, as well as that lovable mascot.