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Thursday, December 21, 2000
The Southern Cross, Page 3
Candy Canes and Catholicity:
The well-lived life of Robert E. McCormack, Jr.
Rita H.
DeLorme
W hen Robert E. McCormack
Jr., died in an Albany hos
pital on the last day of De
cember in 1991, his passing
marked more than the death of
the CEO of an established and
prosperous business, Bob’s
Candies, Inc. Robert McCor
mack had succeeded his father,
Robert Emmet McCormack, Sr.,
in a family known in Catholic
circles for much more than its
material success and trademark
peppermint candy canes.
The younger McCormack grew up in Albany,
attended Saint Teresa’s Church and was a member
of the church’s adult choir and its building com
mittee. He also acted as president of the Parent-
Teacher Association of the parish school.
Bob McCormack, Jr., had followed his father
into the business of making “the world’s best pep
permint candy” as he had emulated him in serving
his country during wartime. In 1919, Robert
McCormack, Sr., retired his World War I lieu
tenant’s bars and, figuratively, donned a cook’s
apron, to start the candy company he had dreamt
of founding.
McCormack’s son, Robert, Jr., graduated from
the Naval Academy and saw active duty with the
Pacific and Atlantic fleets during World War II.
The elder McCormack initially called his candy
making operation the “Famous Candy Company.”
Assisted by a small cadre of employees, he began
making candy canes as a Christmas treat for family
and friends and for sale by local stores in 1920.
Preparing this traditional candy, shaped like a
shepherd’s crook, was no easy feat. The process of
producing the cheerily-striped canes involved
“twisting, cutting and bending each candy by
hand.”
Because the work was so labor-intensive, it
could only be done on a relatively small scale and
Bob’s Candy Company continued to be a modest,
local business until the 1950s, when the senior
McCormack’s brother-in-law, Gregory H. Keller—
Robert E. McCormack, jr.
a Catholic priest—devised a way of automating
production of the candies. An innovator himself,
Robert E. McCormack, Sr., had some years earlier
begun wrapping his candy canes individually in
the new-in-the-1920s cellophane. When younger
members of the McCormack family went on to
devise packaging innovations themselves in the
1950s, Bob’s Candies, Inc. was on its way to
becoming the largest producer of candy canes in
the world.
During World War II, when sugar supplies were
short, the McCormacks contracted to make special
hard candies for soldiers to carry in their ration
kits. To console members of the civilian population
who craved confections, Bob’s Inc. began making
peanut candies, peanut butter cracker sandwiches,
etc.
With the war over and Father Keller’s amazing
machine’s having eliminated the necessity for
Jubilee Memorabilia for sale!
Three videos connected with the 150th anniversary celebration of the Diocese of Savannah
are available for sale. They are: the three-and-a-half hour video of the November 29
Rededication of the Cathedral Mass, $20; the one-hour edited version of the service which
aired on WTOC-TV with narration by Father Jeremiah J. McCarthy, $15; and the half-hour
video, “A Symphony of the Faithful,” which features the history of the diocese and narra
tion by Father McCarthy, $12. Other Jubilee memorabilia for sale are:
Coffee mug $3.00
Magnet... $ 1.00
Static cling decal $0.50
Tote bag $5.00
T-shirt (S to XXL) $6.00
Olive cap $5.00
Ballpoint pen $1.00
Pencil $0.10
Lapel pin.. $5.00
Calendar $ 1.00
“One Faith ... One Family” Book $30.00
To order, call Patty Hafferman at the Catholic Pastoral Center, 912-238-2320, or send an
e-mail to Diosav@msn.com.
stretching candy by hand, the company soon took
on larger markets.
Robert McCormack, Jr., replaced his father as
president of Bob’s Inc. in 1962 and remained in
charge until his own retirement in 1989. Son Greg
then became head of the firm, launching a third
generation of family management of Bob’s Can
dies, Inc.
Keeping up with the times, the company began
offering a rainbow of flavors such as pina colada,
bubblegum and blueberry in addition to its old
standby, peppermint. The role of the candy cane
expanded from being purely decorative in some
cases to becoming a new taste sensation. In the late
1990s, candy cane production accounted for 70
percent of Bob’s Candies’ sales and the company
crested the market by a good margin.
The McCormacks’ remarkable accomplishment
of keeping the business family-centered under
scores only one aspect of their capacity for dedica
tion. Both Robert E. McCormack, Sr. and his wife,
Louise Keller, had always been devoted to their
community and their church. In time, Robert
McCormack, Jr.’s years of service on local and
national boards and committees would echo his
father’s earlier involvement in these actitivites.
Like his father, he became a patron of Saint Ber
nard’s Abbey and College. He was invested in the
Knights of the Sovereign Order of Malta as his
father had been before him. Among honors the
younger Robert McCormack received were the
Saint Bernard College Benedictine Medal, and an
honorary doctorate of humane letters from
Southern Benedictine College (Saint Bernard,
Alabama).
Though his life was busy with the duties of a
husband and father and of running a thriving busi
ness, Bob McCormack never overlooked his
responsibilities to his church. His boyhood pastor
at Saint Teresa’s in Albany, Monsignor Daniel J.
Bourke, watched him grow up and termed him “a
studious and respectful boy.” He was, said Mon
signor Bourke, “of good Irish-German Catholic
stock” and enjoyed “a great start in life” because
of this heritage.
Following McCormack’s death in 1991,
Monsignor Bourke wrote an appreciation of him,
dubbing him “urbane, chivalrous and loyal” and
particularly blessed in his wife, children and
grandchildren. In summary, Monsignor Bourke
declared that Robert McCormack, whom he had
known personally since 1935, had “viewed the
passing scene from the standpoint of eternity.”
A prayer recited daily and carried in his wallet
and his heart by this man who was successful in
every phase of his life appeared in Monsignor
Bourke’s Southern Cross tribute, “Bob McCor
mack, An Appreciation.” Resonating with the true
spirit of Christmas, that prayer is quoted here:
“Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for food and
remember the hungry. We thank Thee for health
and remember the sick. We thank Thee for friends
and remember the homeless. We thank Thee for
freedom and remember the enslaved. May these
remembrances stir us to service that Thy gifts to us
may be used for others. Amen.”
Rita H. DeLormf i« ~ olunteer in the
Dior hives.