Al Bernardin, Creator of McDonald's Quarter Pounder and More, Dead at 81
Al Bernardin, inventor of the McDonald's Quarter Pounder, died of a stroke last month at 81. Although the Quarter Pounder is his most famous creation, he also helped develop the frozen french fry. His other contributions as vice president of product development at McDonald's include helping to form the Filet-O-Fish and hot apple and cherry pies. [via @Francis_Lam]
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18 Comments:
Bring back the McDonalds hot apple and cherry pies as memorial to this great man.
peekpoke at 11:30AM on 01/04/10
Oh those hot apple pies are a great childhood memory! But in this day of "I was balancing a hot cup of your coffee on my thigh while driving and burned myself so give me millions of dollars" I don't think McD's will risk it. Remember how scalding hot that filling was? I could never wait long enough for it to cool down and I think I burned my tongue every time I ordered one. Ah, those were the days!
arjava at 11:43AM on 01/04/10
Come on Chicago Tribune. Check your facts! The Filet-o-Fish was created by franchise owner Lou Groen and won out over the McDonald's-created Hulaburger. Shame on you SE for believing whatever print media has to say.
ccooper at 11:56AM on 01/04/10
@ccooper: Sorry, didn't mean to imply he invented the Filet-O-Fish, just that he had a hand in developing it. To clarify for anyone else, the only thing news sources have credited him with inventing is the Quarter Pounder. I'll reword the post.
Robyn Lee at 12:00PM on 01/04/10
Wait, what? They took away the apple pie?
Cassaendra at 12:06PM on 01/04/10
Last I checked (which, I must admit, has been quite a while, since I started monitoring my food intake closely), Mickey D's was still selling the Apple Pie.
a89hernandez at 12:36PM on 01/04/10
They still have apple pie but it's baked not deep fried
jakeyd at 12:44PM on 01/04/10
That he died from a stroke is a detail not lost on me.
moibec at 2:22PM on 01/04/10
best fastfood memory of my childhood: deep fried apple pie, 2 of $1
Does anyone remember their softserve icecream? I remember we used to get them in the "kid" cones, they were teeeeny, like 2 licks and you're done/
chlamers at 2:27PM on 01/04/10
He died at a stroke - not so uncommon, really - at age 81. So what's the implication here, that eating McDonald's lets you live to a ripe old age? or that eating McDonald's makes you die of cerebrovascular disease? In either case, n=1 is not very good epidemiology. Esp. since we don't know how much he actually ate of the stuff, we're just making assumptions.
emilydev at 2:40PM on 01/04/10
i wonder how many quarter pounders a day he ate – or did his doctor recommend against them, haha
franko at 3:22PM on 01/04/10
Oh man... I haven't been to McD in years, but how could they NOT deep-fry the apple pie anymore?!? Oh, the humanity...
keltrue at 4:07PM on 01/04/10
The Apple pie was still scalding hot last time I had one.
zedmund at 4:21PM on 01/04/10
I love the mechanically separated beef carpaccio at Al Bernardin.
JH Ford at 5:08PM on 01/04/10
I hate the QP; it's my least favorite burger at McDonald's but the apple pies aren't bad at all.
jlewfoodie at 6:50PM on 01/04/10
moibec, your lack of IQ is a detail not lost on me.
olddad at 7:02PM on 01/04/10
Anybody who equates the horrible baked apple pie with the deep fried apple pie of yore at McDonalds is unserious, at best. Everyday in high school, my lunch was 2QPs and a hot apple pie. And I am still alive (although my gallbladder gave up the ghost at 26)
The last time I was at a Whataburger, THEY still had a deep fried apple pie. I just wish the nearest one wasn't 350 miles away.
MarkB at 10:37PM on 01/04/10
olddad, I love mcD's as much as the next guy, but admit to eating it with a twinge of guilty fear that someday I might pay. I made the comment half in jest, but half not; I know strokes aren't necessarily related to one's eating habits but heck...
I may just go out and get a 1/4 Pounder in his memory.
moibec at 5:08PM on 01/05/10