George Albert Hormel (1860-1946) - Find a Grave Memorial

Businessman. He was the founder of Hormel Foods Corporation, which became famous for the introduction of canned hams. His father was a leather tanner and his mother came from a family that had worked in the slaughterhouses. At the age of 15 he worked in his uncle's butcher shop. He later worked as a wool merchant and eventually moved to Austin, Minnesota, where he and a business partner opened a butcher shop in 1887. He wanted to expand the business but his partner objected, and he sold his half and started his own Hormel Provision Market meatpacking business in 1891. He soon expanded the business, and in 1895 he introduced the Hormel sugar-cured pig back bacon (now commonly referred to as "Canadian bacon"). In 1901, he incorporated his business as George A. Hormel and Company, with distribution centers in Minnesota (Saint Paul, Minneapolis, and Duluth), Texas (Dallas and San Antonio), Illinois (Chicago), Georgia (Atlanta), and Birmingham, Alabama. Hormel introduced canned hams (Hormel Flavor-Sealed Ham) in 1926 and added chicken to its line in 1928. His company set high working conditions for its employees by offering shorter hours and higher wages than any of its competitors, and was also the first to install gas chambers for humane animal slaughters that used carbon dioxide clouds in lieu of the more traditional slaughter methods. His son, Jay Hormel, became the company president in 1929, and he retired and moved to California, but stayed active in the business. He died of heart failure.

Bio by: William Bjornstad