The American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) and the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Assn. (NFRA) inducted three food industry leaders into their Frozen Food Hall of Fame. The 2017 inductees are the late E. Glen Grader, founder of Albany Frozen Foods; William Smittcamp, president and CEO of Wawona Frozen Foods; and Ron Suchecki, retired vice president of sales for Ateeco Inc./Mrs. T’s Pierogies.
Grader began working as manager of a frozen food facility with Stokely-Van Camp in Marysville, Wash. in 1951, later moving with the company to Albany, Ore. There he founded Albany Frozen Foods next to a cold storage facility in 1961. In 1975, he sold Albany Frozen Foods to Seabrook Foods Inc., landing executive positions with Seabrook Foods, Oxnard Frozen Foods Corp. and Continental Cos. In 1986, during his time at Oxnard Frozen Foods, Mr. Grader served as chairman of the board for AFFI. He retired in 1987 and passed away on Aug. 27, 2014.
Smittcamp is president and CEO of Wawona Frozen Foods in Clovis, Calif., a family-owned grower and processor of frozen fruit. He was AFFI chairman in 1997.
Suchecki was vice president of sales for Ateeco Inc./Mrs.T’s Pierogies for nearly 27 years. He retired in December 2015. He was NFRA’s convention chairman from 2005-2009.
The inductees will be honored at the Distinguished Order of Zerocrats meeting during the AFFI Frozen Food Convention (AFFI-CON) on March 4, 2017, in San Diego.
