NATURAL CAUSES

Bob’s Red Mill Founder Dead at 94

He gifted his $100 million whole-grains company to his employees.

Bob Moore, the whole grains entrepreneur who built in Bob’s Red Mill into a $100 million company he turned over to his employees, has died at the age of 94. His death was announced by the company, which said: “We will truly miss his energy and larger-than-life personality.” Moore’s career began in the 1970s in Redding, California, after he and his wife decided they wanted to eat healthier. He opened a stone-ground flour mill and in 1978 founded Bob’s Red Mill natural foods in Oregon. On his 81st birthday, after fending off buyout offers, he created an employee stock-ownership program to reward the workers who helped build the brands, and Bob’s is now 100 percent owned by its 700 employees. “He did everything in his power to leave us on a strong path forward,” Bob’s Red Mill CEO Trey Winthrop said in a statement. “All of us feel responsible and motivated to preserve his old-world approach to unprocessed foods.”