Rose Totino

Rose Totino
Born
Rosenella Winifred Cruciani

January 16 1915
DiedJune 21 1994 (aged 79)[1]
St. Louis Park, Minnesota, United States
Occupation(s)Pizzeria entrepreneur, corperate executive
AwardsMinnesota Inventors Hall of Fame

Rosenella Winifred Cruciani "Rose" Totino (January 16, 1915 – June 21, 1994) was an American entrepreneur and pizzeria owner whose frozen pizza business co-founded with her husband became the foundation for the Totino's brand. When selling the company to Pillsbury, Totino was hired as the first female vice president of a Fortune 500 company.

Biography

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Rose dropped out of school at age 16 to support her family by cleaning houses.[2] In 1934 she married James R. Totino (1911 – 1981) and remained married until his death of heart attack while vacationing in Las Vegas, Nevada.[3]

They opened their own pizzeria in Minneapolis in 1951 and later expanded from take-out only to Totino's Kitchen with table service. Totino obtained a patent for her frozen pizza crust.[4] In 1962, they started Totino's Finer Foods in St. Louis Park, Minnesota and began mass production of frozen pizzas.Swanson, Walter (1989). Minneapolis: City of Enterprise, Center of Excellence : A contemporary portrait. Windsor Publications, Inc. p. 79. ISBN 0-89781-292-1. They built a new plant in Fridley, Minnesota in 1971. Demand continued to grow, and they sold their company to Pillsbury in 1975 for about $22 million in Pillsbury stock, and Rose was made vice president.[5][6]

Totino's grandson Steve Elwell bought the restaurant in 1987 and moved Totino's Kitchen from its original location in August 2007 to a new location in Mounds View, Minnesota. The new location closed in 2011, ending a 60-year run.[7]

The Totinos were involved in Minnesota charities. Totino-Grace High School in Fridley was renamed in their honor in 1980. They helped finance the Totino Fine Arts Center at University of Northwestern - St. Paul in Roseville, Minnesota and the NET Ministries headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota.[8] Totino died of cancer at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.[9] She was inducted into the Minnesota Inventors Hall of Fame in 2008.

References

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  1. ^ "Rose Totino Obit Part 2". Newspapers.com. Star Tribune. June 22, 1994.
  2. ^ George, Stephen (2003). Enterprising Minnesotans: 150 Years of Business Pioneers. University of Minnesota Press.
  3. ^ "James R. Totino". Ancestry.com.
  4. ^ Vare, Ethlie Ann; Ptacek, Greg (2002). Patently Female: From AZT To TV Dinners, Stories Of Women Inventors And Their Breakthrough Ideas. New York: Wiley. pp. 51–52. ISBN 0-471-02334-5. OCLC 47183698.
  5. ^ "Pizza magnate was poor". The Spokesman Review. Associated Press. September 13, 1976.
  6. ^ "Pillsbury to Acquire Totino's Pizza Firm For $20.3 Million". Wall Street Journal. October 15, 1975. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016.
  7. ^ Horner, Sarah (June 8, 2011). "Totino's Italian Kitchen in Mounds View to close after 60 years". St. Paul Pioneer Press. Twin Cities, MN. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014.
  8. ^ Our Mission (n.d.).[1] NET Ministries
  9. ^ "Rose Totino, 79, Frozen-Pizza Maker". New York Times. Associated Press. June 23, 1994. Archived from the original on May 2, 2020.
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