A campaign to etch Frank L. White’s face and name onto his gravestone has succeeded. White is better known as the smiling chef on the Cream of Wheat box. White, who died in 1938, had only a “tiny concrete marker with no name” for a headstone, until now.

Cream of Wheat savorer and family researcher Jesse Lasorda started the campaign to honor White:

“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.”

Still without proper recognition, Uncle Ben. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

‘Cream of Wheat’ man gets grave marker [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]
(Photo: AP – Paul Sancya)

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