PHOENIX - Gerry Thomas, who changed the way Americans eat — for better or worse — with his invention of the TV Dinner during the baby boom years, has died at 83.
Thomas, who died in Paradise Valley on Monday after a bout with cancer, was a salesman for Omaha, Neb.-based C.A. Swanson and Sons in 1954 when he got the idea of packaging frozen meals in a disposable aluminum-foil tray, divided into compartments to keep the foods from mixing. He also gave the product its singular name.
The first Swanson TV Dinner — turkey with cornbread dressing and gravy, sweet potatoes and buttered peas — sold for about $1 and could be cooked in 25 minutes at 425 degrees. Ten million sold in the first year of national distribution.
What would the single life be without Mr. Thomas's marvel of storable sustenance?
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