Breakfast cereal industry innovator dead at 99

Lester F. Borchardt Sr. died in Minneapolis on Sunday, January 22 following a lengthy retirement from a productive career at General Mills. Borchardt was a student at the University of Minnesota in 1933 when a professor tapped him to assist General Mills in evaluating research being done in Chicago on the fortification of milk with Vitamin D. Borchardt turned the method into a viable process and spent the next 36 years working for the breakfast cereal company, developing technologies that turned grain into cereals such as Cheerios, Chex, Wheaties, Lucky Charms, and Trix. Borchardt also developed a device to measure the moisture content of wheat kernels and a new way of closing cereal bags. He retired in 1969 as vice president and director of research. In 1987, he received a University of MN Alumni Association Wall of Honor award and an honorary PhD from the U of M, Teaching Fellow in Physics. Borchardt was 99.

Sources: PioneerPress, generalmills.com, StarTribune