Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc has announced that its CEO and Chairman Melvin J. Gordon has died at age 95. Barber shops and banks are said to be giving out free Tootsie Pops to kids in honor of–no, wait, they were already doing that. Tootsie Roll has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 1922. The stock kicked up on the news that Mr. Gordon died. He has been CEO for 53 years, according to AP.
The secretive company, based in Chicago, makes–in addition to Tootsie Rolls and Tootsie Pops–Blow Pop, Sugar Daddy, Razzle, Dubble Bubble, Dots, Junior Mints, Charleston Chew and more. Gordon’s wife of 65 years, Ellen Gordon, will take over the chief executive role. She’s currently COO. The Wall Street Journal once described the company as “a modern-day Willy Wonka factory.. surrounded by off-kilter ‘no trespassing’ signs.”
