Franklin Parsons "Frank" Perdue

Franklin "Frank" Parsons Perdue, the Maryland farmer who revolutionized the American poultry industry with the introduction of his brand-name chickens, transforming a backyard egg business into one of the nation's largest food companies, died last night, after a brief illness. He was 84. At the time of his death, Perdue was chairman of the executive committee of the board of directors, Perdue Farms Inc., headquartered in Salisbury, Md. The first hands-on CEO to become famous as a company advertising spokesperson, he appeared in approximately 200 television commercials, in addition to radio and print ads, between 1971 and 1994, until his son, James "Jim" Perdue, chairman of the board of Perdue Farms, took over the role. Frank Perdue's stubborn commitment to product quality led to the creation of one of modern advertising's most memorable lines, "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken." Frank Perdue attributed his success to determination, hard work, honest dealings, innovative marketing and, perhaps most importantly, an obsession with quality. Franklin Parsons Perdue was born in 1920 at home, a modest farmhouse, just outside of Salisbury, the central town on Maryland's Eastern Shore. His destiny was determined early when, in that same year, his father, Arthur Perdue, bought 23 Leghorn pullets for $5 and entered the table-egg business. An only child, Frank's first venture in the poultry business came at the age of 10 when he was given responsibility for 50 laying hens. Under his care they produced well, earning him $10 to $20 per month. Following graduation from high school, he attended Salisbury State Teachers College (now Salisbury University) for two years, where he was able to test his dream of a career in baseball while playing for the school. After "collecting more splinters than RBIs sitting out innings on the dug-out bench," he decided, "the egg business wasn't as bad as I thought." However, he never lost his passion for baseball. Later in life, he supported minor league baseball on the Eastern Shore and helped build in his hometown a minor-league baseball stadium, named for his father. Other beneficiaries of his philanthropy included the Franklin P. Perdue School of Business at Salisbury University, which he endowed in 1986. He also remained an active member of his community, providing donations or lending his name to fund-raising campaigns for a number of favorite charities. In 2000, he and his wife, Mitzi Ayala Perdue, donated $4 million to the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore for the Perdue-Kresge Challenge. In recognition of his contributions to his hometown and to the poultry industry, he received Delmarva's Distinguished Citizen Award from the Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc. in 1965, was the recipient of the Salisbury Award in 1993, and, in December 1999, was named "Shoreman of the Century" by The Daily Times, his hometown newspaper. His own business education was obtained on the job. In 1939, when Frank left college to go back into the family business, the company had just three employees, including Frank and his father. Inspired by his father's incessant drive for quality, Frank became obsessed with expanding his knowledge of the poultry business and finding new ways to improve quality and efficiency. The operation grew and eventually expanded from selling table eggs to hatching and growing broiler chickens. By 1948, when Frank took over leadership of the company, Arthur W. Perdue & Son had 40 employees and was one of the largest chicken growers on the Delmarva Peninsula. During the 1950s and 1960s, Frank pioneered special crossbreeding programs to develop better quality birds - which eventually led to the development of the company's proprietary breed - expanded the company's grain merchandising and soybean oil-refining operations, and, in 1968, purchased the company's first poultry processing plant. With that purchase came Frank's decision to market his own brand of chicken, which initiated the company's first advertising campaign. Frank tackled the campaign much like he did any other business initiative; he relentlessly researched marketing strategies and advertising agencies until he was satisfied he had found the best. The campaign began in New York on radio, but television commercials and subway poster ads soon followed; and the Perdue name - and Frank Perdue's distinctive voice and face - gained broad recognition, eventually making the PERDUE® brand a household name and Frank Perdue a celebrity. Today, Perdue employs approximately 20,000 associates in facilities across 15 states and produces more than 50 million pounds of fresh and further-processed chicken and turkey products each week. Perdue's retail products are available primarily east of the Mississippi River, and foodservice products are provided to foodservice distributors and chain accounts across the country. The company also provides poultry products to customers in more than 40 countries and distributes agricultural products in North America and to more than 25 countries. Though Jim Perdue has been responsible for the day-to-day operations of his family's firm since 1991, Frank Perdue still came into the office until shortly before his death. He also could be expected to spot-check a plant, lunch in one of the company cafeterias with production workers, visit a poultry farm to discuss poultry management with one of the company's contract producers, or visit a supermarket to assure consumers that unwavering quality standards were still being met. In addition to his wife, he is survived by a son and three daughters, Jim and his wife, Jan, of Salisbury, Sandra Spedden of Cambridge, Md., Anne Oliviero and her husband, Vincent Oliviero, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and Beverly Jennings and her husband, Ed, of Midlothian, Va; two stepsons, Jose Ayala and his wife, Erica, of Dallas, Texas, and Carlos Ayala and his wife, Gea, of Granite Bay, Calif.; 12 grandchildren, Steven Spedden, Susan Eliason, Chris Oliviero, Jason Oliviero, Katie Oliviero, Michael Oliviero, Taryn Lloyd, Travis Nida, Whitney Nida, Ryan Perdue, Allison Perdue and Chris Perdue; and four great-grandchildren, Connor Eliason, Sean Eliason, Madeline Lloyd and Hanna Lloyd. A viewing will be held Tuesday, April 5, from 5 to 9 p.m. at Emmanuel Wesleyan Church, 142 Shamrock Drive in Salisbury. A viewing will also be held Wednesday from noon to 3 p.m. at the church followed by a funeral service at 4 p.m. Interment will be private. The Perdue family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in memory of Frank Perdue to your local food bank or to the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore at P.O. Box 152, Salisbury, Md., 21803-0152. Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on 4/3/2005.