Bob Henriquez, with the Hillsborough County Property Appraisers Office.
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Next weeks program is to be hosted by Rotarian Jana Butler, whose guests, Karen Brits and Jennifer Ackett who will be talking to us about strokes and neuroplasticity.
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Wild Game Cookout is just three weeks away! Make sure all money is turned in by this meeting with any unsold tickets so that those on the waiting list can have an opportunity to buy their ticket!
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Check back for upcoming speakers and events!
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Famous Rotarians
Clarence Birdseye (December 9, 1886 – October 7, 1956) was an American inventor, entrepreneur, and naturalist, considered the founder of the modern frozen food industry. He founded the frozen food company Birds Eye. Among his inventions during his career was the double belt freezer.
One of nine children, Birdseye grew up in New York City before heading to Amherst College and began his scientific career with the U.S. government. A biography of his life was published by Doubleday over a half century after his death.[1]
In 1925, General Seafood Corporation moved to Gloucester, Massachusetts. There it marketed and sold Birdseye's newest invention, the double belt freezer, in which cold brine chilled a pair of stainless steel belts carrying packaged fish, freezing the fish quickly. His invention was issued US Patent #1,773,079, considered by some as the beginning of today's frozen foods industry.[13] Birdseye patented other machinery which cooled even more quickly. In 1927, he patented the multiplate freezing machine which was used as the basis for freezing food for several decades.[14]
In 1929, Birdseye sold his company and patents for $22 million (approximately $335 million in 2021 dollars) to Goldman Sachs and the Postum Company, which eventually became General Foods Corporation. General Foods founded the Birds Eye Frozen Food Company.[15] Birdseye continued to work with the company, further developing frozen food technology. In 1930, the company began sales experiments in 18 retail stores around Springfield, Massachusetts, to test consumer acceptance of quick-frozen foods. The initial product line featured 26 items, including 18 cuts of frozen meat, spinach and peas, a variety of fruits and berries, blue point oysters, and fish fillets. Consumers liked the new products, and today this is considered the birth of retail frozen foods. The "Birds Eye" name remains a leading frozen-food brand. In 1949, Birdseye won the Institute of Food Technologists' Babcock-Hart Award.[15] Birdseye was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2005.[16]
Clarence was an honorary member of Rotary Club of Gloucester, MA.
Rotary honors a teacher and mentor with the 2025 Sylvia Whitlock Leadership AwardThis Turkish Rotarian has promoted women’s financial literacy, funded scholarships for girls, and
Young trailblazers find inspiration at Rotaract UN Days. Three participants tell us about the experience, their takeaways, and what it was like to enter the halls of the historic Palais des Nations.
