Charles Courtney Seabrook (15 January 1909 – 4 October 2003) was an American executive who was an earlier pioneer in frozen food.
Biography
editSeabrook was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey to Charles Franklin Seabrook and Norma Dale Ivans. He was raised on a family farm in Bridgeton.[1]
Seabrook attended a local school in Deerfield Township, New Jersey and continued his studies at Bridgeton High School from which he graduated in 1927 and then attended Mercersburg Academy.[1] Later, he completed his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Lehigh University in 1932.[2][3] His early career included positions at a New Jersey nursery and Seabrook Engineering, a family-owned company.[2]
In the 1930s, Seabrook, alongside his father Charles F. Seabrook and brothers Belford and John, experimented with freezing vegetables using dry ice, a technique that contributed to the early frozen food industry.[2] This led to a collaboration with Clarence Birdseye, a pioneer in the field.[2][3] The collaboration resulted in a successful line of frozen vegetables under the Seabrook Farms brand.[2][3] The farm, once a small family operation, expanded to cover 55,000 acres (22,000 ha).[2][3]
During World War II, Seabrook assisted the War Food Administration in developing food packaging and processing techniques.[1] After the war, Seabrook assumed a role in the sales department of Seabrook Farms and subsequently became president of the National Frozen Food Association.[1]
Despite the company's growth, internal disagreements in the mid-1950s led to the sale of Seabrook Farms to Seeman Brothers, a grocery wholesaler in New York.[2][3][4] Subsequently, he left the family business and worked at Standard Packaging Company until his retirement in 1974.[2][3]
Personal life
editCharles Seabrook's first wife, Mae Dilks Seabrook, died in 1978.[2] Later, he married Margaret Huber in 1979, who died in 1997.[2] He is survived by a son, two daughters, a stepdaughter, a stepson, and six grandchildren.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Seabrook, Charles Courtney, Encyclopedia.com. Accessed December 21, 2023. "(b. 15 January 1909 in Bridgeton, New Jersey; d. 4 October 2003 in Woodstown, New Jersey), frozen food packager who was instrumental in building the frozen food industry in the twentieth century.... Seabrook graduated from Bridgeton High School in 1927 and joined his older brother at Mercersburg Academy, a college preparatory school in Pennsylvania."
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pace, Eric. "Charles Courtney Seabrook, 94, Pioneer in Frozen Vegetables", The New York Times, October 10, 2023. Accessed December 21, 2023. "Charles Courtney Seabrook, who with his brothers and father carried out food-freezing experiments in the early days of the frozen food industry, died on Saturday at the Friends Home in Woodstown, N.J. He was 94."
- ^ a b c d e f "Charles Seabrook, 94; Created Method to Freeze Vegetables", Los Angeles Times, October 11, 2003. Accessed December 21, 2023.
- ^ "The Spinach King". The New Yorker. 12 February 1995.