Gerry Thomas, widely credited for inventing the TV dinner, died here in the Phoenix area Monday of cancer at age 83.
From the AP release:
He recalled that the inspiration came when he was visiting a distributor, spotted a metal tray and was told it was developed for an experiment in preparation of hot meals on airliners."It was just a single compartment tray with foil," he recalled. "I asked if I could borrow it and stuck it in the pocket of my overcoat."
He said he came up with a three-compartment tray because "I spent five years in the service so I knew what a mess kit was. You could never tell what you were eating because it was all mixed together."
Since interest in television was booming, he added: "I figured if you could borrow from that, maybe you could get some attention. I think the name made all the difference in the world."
Read the whole article, but I thought it was interesting that he got so much hate mail from enraged husbands when they first came out. No word if he will be buried on an aluminum tray in a cardboard casket, but I'm guessing not.
