Pringles can designer dies; remains buried in Pringles can

From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Dr. Fredric J. Baur was so proud of having designed the container for Pringles potato crisps that he asked his family to bury him in one.
His children honored his request. Part of his remains was buried in a Pringles can - along with a regular urn containing the rest - in his grave at Arlington Memorial Gardens in Springfield Township.

Dr. Baur, a retired organic chemist and food storage technician who specialized in research and development and quality control for Procter & Gamble, died May 4 at Vitas Hospice. The College Hill resident was 89.

Link (Thanks, Tomatillo!)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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NicoleRichieVicodinRave

Once you pop you just can’t stop.
ROSSINDETROIT

I remember the summer 37 years ago when those came out. I thought “That’s really stupid. Those will never sell” I was so wrong. They have improved, though. At first they had a really unpleasant ‘tingly’ or ‘fizzy’ mouth feel from some kind of chemical and they were much saltier. Also they were originally much more expensive than ordinary chips.
Takuan

I always thought they came about as way to use all the dust sweepings from real potato chip plants. A broom, a hydraulic press….
ROSSINDETROIT

At the time they came out the urban legend was that they were formed from a paste of real potatoes dissolved in lye. If you tasted them then you could believe it.
ROSSINDETROIT

I believe the original intent was to make compact potato chips in a durable container. As one who hikes a lot and likes to have lunch in the woods (as I did today) I understand the utility aspect. But I’ve never gotten used to the slightly unnatural flavor.
Brainspore

#24: How many other brands of potato chips come in a can? Also, do you honestly think those brittle little things would survive in a bag? The packaging design is central to the entire Pringles experience.
Art

Hi, Takuan & RossinDetriot,

You’re both pretty correct.

P& G did really “different” things with foods, as they brought their industrial, “Ivory Soap” methods to their edible products.

It is some kind of potato mulch and, when uniformly shaped, they stacked! with liitle or no breakage. That was the idea.

I did package design for P&G in the 80′s and, personally, I think that they always did better with non-edible products than they did with food.

Pringles was probably the only product that Deskey Assoc.(where I worked)never designed for them.
magic whiskey

Cincinnati resident here, and it’s interesting to hear all the local afternoon stories covering this. Kind of a mental douching, of a sort..

(But then again, so is BoingBoing.)

Death from ‘Fever’..I love it!

Wait just a second..was he the model for the Pringles mascot? If so, he may have died of a rare case of Hydrocephalus.
brokebutstilldrinking

I’d have my remains buried in a beer can but I’m claustrophobic.
IshMEL

Sci-fi fans should also know that Gene Wolfe contributed to the development of the Pringles machine, “specifically the part which cooks the chips.”
artbot

I wonder if the ashes at the top of the can were large wafers and the ashes at the bottom were just broken crumbs.
d2kd3k

Good for him, and for his family for honouring his wishes.

Am I the only one reminded somehow of the Droste effect?
Crunchbird

I seriously hope that this guy squeezed a fat payment out of P&G in advance for his Pringles can burial stunt. This “story” has been worth millions in free advertising for them . . .
CapnMarrrrk

My request would have been to have the pringles placed in my mouth “bottom to bottom” thus forming the always hilarious duck bill.
Joebotimus Prime

I grew up in College Hill. Wish I knew his address.
Suburbancowboy

Was the cause of death “Fever”?
mappo

Wati, did he invent the can or did he invent the chips? Because I don’t see what’s so special about the can.
jwerner

“remains buried in Pringles can”
Sounds like he spent his days alive buried in there, too.
Art

@#5-”My request would have been to have the pringles placed in my mouth “bottom to bottom” thus forming the always hilarious duck bill.”

I made myself a promise not to log on to BB while I’m working. Now I can’t stop laughing!

Thanks, CAPNMARRRRK, and all, for the great comments.
toxonix

I’m almost certain he wouldn’t have approved of the ‘secondary urn’. He would’ve wanted them to use a second pringles can.
holtt

I’m pretty sure if they’d formed his body into the right shapes,they could have put the entire body in there!
porcupine

Death by Fever, that’s hilarious. Personally I would have opted for the Sour Cream and Onion can over Original.
sonny p fontaine

@28 RAWDRITE as i recall from my sandbox days (early to mid 70′s) about a day and a half packed with damp sand. and they pollute your sandbox with little foily bits for a long time. the lids broke apart in about a year and the bottoms and lip rings rusted away in about six months. this, of course, was with the influence of pennsylvania precipitation.
jazzbo

Not one word about the father of all cantennas? Where are the nerds of 802.11b?
Guinness74

Did he approve the total redesign of the artwork over the last few years! I miss the old non-Pixar Pringles man!

And you kids get off my lawn!
Tangolomango

“Is there a Ralph’s around here?”
JSG

Good God, I hope they don’t get confused one day and open the wrong can.
ployntabs

So did they take a pringles shaped core sample and put that in the can? That means the second urn is pretty large. Pringles make my mouth hurt after I eat a couple cans worth. I like the broccoli-cottage cheese flavor.
rawdirte

…

he remains

…

how long would a pringles can take

to decompose?