LESLIE, Michigan, June 15, 2007

Final Tribute For Cream Of Wheat Man

Gravestone Monument In Leslie, Michigan, 69 Years After His Death

    • The Cream of Wheat high hat chef drawing (above) is based on an over century-old photo of a Chicago restaurant chef believed to have been Frank L. White, who died in Leslie, Michigan, in 1938.

      The Cream of Wheat high hat chef drawing (above) is based on an over century-old photo of a Chicago restaurant chef believed to have been Frank L. White, who died in Leslie, Michigan, in 1938.  (AP)

    • This headstone was placed on the grave of Frank L. White, on June 13, 2007, recognizing him as the model for one of America's best known commercial icons: Cream of Wheat's smiling high hat chef.

      This headstone was placed on the grave of Frank L. White, on June 13, 2007, recognizing him as the model for one of America's best known commercial icons: Cream of Wheat's smiling high hat chef.  (AP/Lansing State Journal)

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(AP)  A man widely believed to be the model for the smiling chef on Cream of Wheat boxes finally has a grave marker bearing his name.

Frank L. White died in 1938, and until this week, his grave in Woodlawn Cemetery bore only a tiny concrete marker with no name.

On Wednesday, a granite gravestone was placed at his burial site. It bears his name and an etching taken from the man depicted on the Cream of Wheat box.

Jesse Lasorda, a family researcher from Lansing, started the campaign to put the marker and etching on White's grave.

"Everybody deserves a headstone," Lasorda told the Lansing State Journal. He discovered that White was born about 1867 in Barbados, came to the U.S. in 1875 and became a citizen in 1890.

When White died Feb. 15, 1938, the Leslie Local-Republican described him as a "famous chef" who "posed for an advertisement of a well-known breakfast food."

White lived in Leslie for about the last 20 years of his life, and the story of his posing for the Cream of Wheat picture was known in the city of 2,000 located between Jackson and Lansing and about 70 miles west of Detroit.

The chef was photographed about 1900 while working in a Chicago restaurant. His name was not recorded. White was a chef, traveled a lot, was about the right age and told neighbors that he was the Cream of Wheat model, the Jackson Citizen Patriot said.

Long owned by Kraft Foods Inc., the Cream of Wheat brand was sold this year to B&G Foods Inc.

© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 16 Comments
by global_chick June 15, 2007 8:54 PM EDT
It's nice to have an interesting, fun story to read that doesn't lead to name-calling.
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by thgdriver June 15, 2007 8:37 PM EDT
I forgot all about cream of wheat but after I saw the man on the box and this story it all came back.
I would have been glad to add to the donations if I knew at the time. My mom would make oatmeal also. Great in the middle of those cold winters we don't seem to have anymore.
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by connapa June 15, 2007 7:19 PM EDT
Why didn't anybody, once they found out there was no headstone, approach the company and suggest that they honor the man with a proper headstone. In this day and age they could have written it off as a business expense, plus gotten a lot of free advertising as a result. Shame on them for exploiting someone for all those years. His family should sue to collect royalties for use of his image.
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by ladyephesus1 June 15, 2007 5:55 PM EDT
This is an awesome story! One of the best Ive read in a while. My mom only fed us hot cereal when we were growing up(1970's) and it was always Cream of Wheat! Its funny alot of us never asked who the guy really was. Kinda sad to know that I was eating that cereal all those years and didnt even think to ask. There should be a movie about him. ;)
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by beadazzle June 15, 2007 4:18 PM EDT
Wow this is a cool story and as a baby boomer i grew up on creme of wheat and still love eating it today. I'm glad that this man finally got his due,but i agree with JetRanger7,Frank L. White should have a better grave stone in his memory. He's a part of history now and deserves the recongition.
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by slim1h2o June 15, 2007 4:16 PM EDT
Cream of Wheat, with brown sugar on top, mm mm good! Oops wrong company, Sorry HaHaHahahaha
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by susieq_13 June 15, 2007 4:08 PM EDT
I'm glad they got him a headstone. He deserves it. I'm only 34 and that is what I fed my son when he was just 3 months old. He couldn't stand Gerber Rice Cereal...so when I started buying Cream of Wheat and he loved it, I thought this is awesome!
Great story CBS!
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by konabike June 15, 2007 2:45 PM EDT
I used to love cream of wheat. It's a nice story!
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by jetranger7 June 15, 2007 2:43 PM EDT
OHH COME ON,,, I MEAN REALLY,,, COULDN'T THEY HAVE GIVIN HIM A 10-FOOT HIGH MEMORIAL, HEADSTONE, LIKE MAYBE SHAPED LIKE A CREAM OF WHEAT CAN WITH HIS NAME ON IT OR SOMETHING ??? HE DESERVED A BIGGER HEADSTONE THAN THAT,, GEESSHHHH !!! TALK ABOUT STINGY AND BEING TIGHT,, MANNNNN !!!!!
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by michellem99-2009 June 15, 2007 2:02 PM EDT
We use to eat it as kids. I knew there was a black man on the box but didn't know who. I loved Cream of wheat. In the 60s winters got awfully cold in Maine. So Foster Mum would fix it many morning with home made toast. Kids today don't know them winters as us older folk do. Back then it snowed and a hot bowl of cream of wheat top it off. This is cool. I am 52.
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by mswolfestock June 15, 2007 1:55 PM EDT
What a great story . . . . CBS, please publish at least one positive story like this every day. I know that good stuff like this happens all the time, and I'd like to see more stories that do not cause people to argue and call each other names. I grew up eating Cream of Wheat and I'm happy to learn about the real man behind the picture on the box.
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by usawarrior June 15, 2007 1:12 PM EDT
Thank you for the story! That was very nice and we love good news every now and then.
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by dukeudevil June 15, 2007 11:23 AM EDT
You're a good person, Jesse Lasorda. Thanks for not allowing history to forget.

I do hope either Kraft and/or B&G contributed to the campaign like good (and grateful) capitalists should.
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by ov442 June 15, 2007 11:20 AM EDT
thats cool.
interesting that 1938 when he passed has same numbers as 1893 on the box of Cream of Wheat.
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by drngray June 15, 2007 10:07 AM EDT
Thank you for this story. This was a good piece of news. Neal
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by cbs_oliver June 15, 2007 9:51 AM EDT
What a nice story!

Good work!
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