Clarence Birdseye (December 9, 1886 - October 7, 1956), is considered the founder of the modern frozen food industry.
A native of New York City, he became interested in the frozen preservation of food while working as a fur trader in Labrador, Canada in 1912 and 1916, a job he had taken to help pay for his college education.
Birdseye eventually took out a series of patents on the quick-freezing process, in which foods are frozen so quickly that only small ice crystals can form and cell walls are not damaged. In 1929 he sold the patents to the Postum Company, which eventually became General Foods Corporation, and which founded the Birds Eye Frosted Food Company. The name remains a leading frozen-food brand, spelled as two words.
In later years, Birdseye invented such products as an infrared heat lamp and a specialized harpoon to mark whales.
