J. R. Simplot

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American businessman

title: "J. R. Simplot" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-atheists", "american-billionaires", "american-food-company-founders", "american-people-of-english-descent", "american-people-of-french-descent", "businesspeople-from-iowa", "businesspeople-from-idaho", "people-from-dubuque,-iowa", "people-from-boise,-idaho", "utah-state-university-people", "deaths-from-pneumonia-in-idaho", "1909-births", "2008-deaths", "micron-technology-people", "20th-century-american-businesspeople"] description: "American businessman" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._Simplot" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American businessman ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
imageJ. R. Simplot.jpeg
nameJ. R. "Jack" Simplot
birth_nameJohn Richard Simplot
birth_date
birth_placeDubuque, Iowa, U.S.
death_date
death_placeBoise, Idaho, U.S.
resting_placeMorris Hill Cemetery, Boise, Idaho
known_forFounder of the
J. R. Simplot Company
educationEighth grade dropout
spouse{{plainlist
* {{MarriageRuby Adeline Rosevear
children4, including Scott
::

| image = J. R. Simplot.jpeg | caption = | name = J. R. "Jack" Simplot | birth_name = John Richard Simplot | birth_date = | birth_place = Dubuque, Iowa, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Boise, Idaho, U.S. | resting_place = Morris Hill Cemetery, Boise, Idaho | resting_place_coordinates = | known_for = Founder of the J. R. Simplot Company | education = Eighth grade dropout | employer = | occupation = | title = | height = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = {{plainlist|

| partner = | children = 4, including Scott | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = John Richard Simplot (; January 4, 1909 – May 25, 2008) was an American entrepreneur and businessman best known as the founder of the J. R. Simplot Company, a Boise, Idaho–based agricultural supplier specializing in potato products. In 2007, he was estimated to be the 89th-richest person in the United States, at $3.6 billion. At the time of his death at age 99 in May 2008, he was the oldest billionaire on the Forbes 400.{{cite journal | title = #80 John Richard Simplot and family | journal = Forbes | volume = 178 | date = 2006-09-21 | url = https://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/54/biz_06rich400_John-Richard-Simplot-family_ZPFO.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070103113435/http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/54/biz_06rich400_John-Richard-Simplot-family_ZPFO.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = January 3, 2007 | issn = 0015-6914 | access-date = 2007-06-30}}

Early life

Born in Dubuque, Iowa, he was the third of six children of Charles R. and Dorothy (Haxby) Simplot. His maternal grandmother was English, as were both parents of both his maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother. His paternal great-grandparents were both French.

A year later in 1910, the family relocated a thousand miles (1,600 km) west to homestead in the newly irrigated Magic Valley of south central Idaho; the Minidoka Dam on the Snake River was completed a few years earlier. After differences with his father, Simplot left school in the eighth grade at age 14 in 1923, then worked on a farm near Declo in Cassia County. He developed a low-cost method for feeding hogs when the market fell, feeding them wild horse meat and potatoes. When the market recovered, Simplot sold his hogs at a profit and got into the potato and vegetable processing business.

J. R. Simplot Company

Main article: Simplot

By World War II, the J. R. Simplot Company had become the largest shipper of fresh potatoes in the nation.

In 1967, Simplot and McDonald's Corporation founder Ray Kroc agreed by handshake that the Simplot Company would provide frozen french fries to the restaurant chain. Previously, restaurants had cut potatoes at each location for fresh french fries, but the favored russet potato was not available for three months in the summer, leading to a quality control problem. Simplot was able to supply frozen russet potatoes all year long. By 1972, all fries were frozen. The frozen fry deal led to expansion of Simplot potato processing plants and construction in 1977 of a new plant at Hermiston, Oregon. By 2005, Simplot supplied more than half of all french fries for the fast food chain. Simplot also produces fertilizers for agriculture.{{cite journal | last = Brandt | first = Richard | title = J.R. Simplot: Still Hustling, after all these years | journal = Business Week | issue = 3176 | pages = 60–65 | date = 1990-09-03 | issn = 0007-7135 }}

Simplot retired as president of his company in 1973, but remained as chairman until 1994. He held the title of chairman emeritus until his death in 2008. Simplot received an honorary degree from Utah State University in Logan in 2001, honoring him for his many contributions to the agricultural industry of America, particularly the Intermountain West.

Simplot was responsible for the Potato Bust of 1976, after making massive short plays he refused to honor those contracts. This resulted in millions in dollars of losses for the New York Merchant Exchange. A public outcry followed, and the newly created Commodity Futures Trading Commission held hearings.

Further enhancing his enormous wealth, the J.R. Simplot Company provided startup capital in the early 1980s for the fledgling Micron Technology, a Boise-based manufacturer of computer memory chips; Additionally, he invested heavily in Remington Oil.

In 1961, Simplot financed the Brundage Mountain ski area near McCall, two hours north of Boise. The Simplot Company sold its 50% interest in Brundage in April 2006 to the longtime co-owner, the DeBoer family. In the early 1950s, Simplot was the benefactor to the fledgling Bogus Basin ski area near Boise when it had financial difficulties; the base area lodge is named in his honor.

In 1995, the J.R. Simplot Company expanded into Australia, acquiring iconic food brands like Birds Eye, Leggo's, Chiko, and Edgell.

Personal

Simplot's first marriage was to Ruby Rosevear (1911–2004) of Glenns Ferry, whom he had met on a blind date; he proposed to her in his Model A Ford in 1931. After 29 years and four children, the marriage ended in divorce in 1960, when she suddenly left Simplot for another man. Years later, Simplot admitted that while he was growing his business empire in the 1950s, he had not spent enough time with his family.

He and his second wife, Esther Becker (born 1934), a former opera singer, met in the mid-1960s in New York. He was on a business trip and she was working as a receptionist for the Henry Phipps Foundation; they were married in 1972.

Before his death, Simplot and his wife Esther resided in the Grove Hotel building in downtown Boise, a few blocks from the company's headquarters. The couple donated their hilltop home, in Boise's north end, to the state of Idaho in late 2004 for use as a governor's mansion. (Known as "The Idaho House," it was returned to the Simplot family in 2013, and demolished in January 2016.)

Accident

On January 1, 2007, while attending the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, with his wife and son, Simplot fell from a motorized scooter and suffered a cranial hematoma. He was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, where he spent his 98th birthday. Simplot returned to Idaho several days later for further rehabilitation.

Death

Simplot died suddenly at his home at age 99 on May 25, 2008,

Simplot was survived by his wife, two sons, Don and Scott, and his daughter, Gay, who was the first wife of politician Butch Otter. His eldest son, Richard, died in 1993 at age 59. He was interred at Morris Hill Cemetery in Boise.

In 1996, Simplot was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

Awards and honors

References

References

  1. "#89 John Simplot & family". Forbes.
  2. Trillhaase, Marty. (July 1, 1990). "Simplot". Lewiston Morning Tribune.
  3. Miller, John. (May 26, 2008). "Potato mogul J.R. Simplot dead at 99". Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
  4. "Mr. Spud".
  5. '': Behind the Arches'', pp. 327–332, Love, John F., rev. ed., 1995, New York: Bantam Books
  6. [http://www.usu.edu/aa/awards/honorary_degrees.cfm Honorary Degrees] from [[Utah State University]],
  7. [https://books.google.com/books?id=D2y7SftShx8C The Asylum], [[Leah McGrath Goodman]], Harper Collins, 2011
  8. "Simplot Australia - Introducing Simplot Australia".
  9. (April 23, 2004). "Simplot's ex-wife Ruby Shipp dies". Lewiston Morning Tribune.
  10. (May 25, 2008). "Simplot: Farmboy who never went to high school turns potatoes into biggest fortune in Idaho". [[Idaho Statesman]].
  11. Oxley, Chuck. (December 22, 2004). "Simplot hands over house on the hill". Lewiston Tribune.
  12. (January 4, 2016). "Simplot Family Says Boise Mansion to Be Torn Down". [[KTVB]].
  13. "Idaho's richest citizen will celebrate his 98th birthday from a bed in Phoenix".
  14. "J.R. Simplot's back in Boise".
  15. (September 2010). "J.R. Simplot dies at 99, with wife Esther at his side". [[Idaho Statesman]].
  16. "Morris Hill Cemetery walking tour: J.R. Simplot". City of Boise.
  17. "Hall of Great Westerners".
  18. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". [[American Academy of Achievement]].

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american-atheistsamerican-billionairesamerican-food-company-foundersamerican-people-of-english-descentamerican-people-of-french-descentbusinesspeople-from-iowabusinesspeople-from-idahopeople-from-dubuque,-iowapeople-from-boise,-idahoutah-state-university-peopledeaths-from-pneumonia-in-idaho1909-births2008-deathsmicron-technology-people20th-century-american-businesspeople