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Irvine Robbins Had Flair For Ice Cream

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Los Angeles Times

Published: May 7, 2008

Irvine Robbins, 90, co-founder of Baskin-Robbins whose penchant for creating unusual ice-cream flavors helped push post-World War II America far beyond its chocolate-vanilla-strawberry tastes, died Monday in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Robbins opened his first ice cream shop in 1945 in Glendale, Calif., with his brother-in-law and partner, Burton Baskin. Robbins displayed a keen sense of fun and a flair for marketing that helped turn some of their frozen treats into cultural touchstones.

When the Dodgers came to Los Angeles in 1958, they were greeted with Baseball Nut, complete with raspberries for the umpires.

Lunar Cheesecake was launched the day after man landed on the moon in 1969.

At the height of Beatlemania in 1964, a reporter asked Robbins what flavor would salute the Fab Four. Baskin-Robbins had not invented one, but Robbins said, "Uh, Beatle Nut, of course." And it was in the chain's stores in five days.

He delighted in inventing new flavors and naming them, including Plum Nuts (plums, vanilla and walnuts), ChaChaCha (cherry chocolate chip), or his personal favorite, Jamoca Almond Fudge. By the time he retired in 1978, the company was selling some 20 million gallons of ice cream a year in more than 2,000 stores around the world.

Robbins grew up scooping cones in his family's Tacoma, Wash., ice cream store for customers who always seemed to be having a good time. He recalled that he often "finished a day's work happy" and wanted that same feeling when he started his own business.

After leaving the Army in 1945, he soon opened the Snowbird Ice Cream store in Glendale. Cashing in an insurance policy his father had given him, he came up with $6,000 to start the business.

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