Bob's Red Mill founder, Bob Moore, dies at 94

Bob’s Red Mill founder, Bob Moore, died Saturday, the whole-grain food company said. He was 94.

“Bob’s passion, ingenuity and respect for others will forever inspire the employee owners of Bob’s Red Mill, and we will carry on his legacy by bringing wholesome foods to people around the world,” the company said in a statement on Instagram. “We will truly miss his energy and larger-than-life personality.”

The company said he “peacefully passed away at home” in a separate statement on its website. Moore died of natural causes, Bob's Red Mill spokesperson Meaghan Burns told USA TODAY in an email.

Moore and his wife, Charlee, who died in 2018, founded the company in 1978. Bob’s Red Mill originally served customers in the Portland, Oregon, area, before growing into a global brand. The company now sells more than 200 products in over 70 countries.

Moore turned the company over to employees in 2010, and the company was entirely employee-owned as of April 2020.

“Bob’s legacy will live on forever in all of us who had the opportunity to work with him and is infused into the Bob’s Red Mill brand,” Bob’s Red Mill CEO Trey Winthrop said in the statement. “He did everything in his power to leave us on a strong path forward. All of us feel responsible and motivated to preserve his old-world approach to unprocessed foods; his commitment to pure, high-quality ingredients; and his generosity to employee owners and educational organizations focused on nutritional health.”

Moore is survived by his three sons, Ken, Bob, Jr. and David, as well as his daughters-in-law Dora, Barbara, Ashleigh and Terry, and nine grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at [email protected].