Gerry Thomas invented the TV Dinner for C.A. Swanson & Sons in 1952. Campbell Soup acquired Swanson in 1955, and Thomas was named Sales Promotion Manager in 1957. In 1969 he was Chairman of the American Frozen Food Institute. When he left Campbell in 1970 after a heart attack, he was a Vice President and Director of Marketing. Thomas later became Director of Grand Central Art Galleries in New York City, and in 1996 was elected to the Town Council in Paradise Valley, AZ, where he now resides. Thomas was named a Distinguished Graduate by UNL in 1979, inducted into the Frozen Food Hall of Fame in 1998, and honored with a handprint ceremony on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in 1999. In November 2001, Thomas and his TV Dinner will be recognized on TV’s History Channel as one of “America’s Classics.”
Gerry passed away in 2005 at the age of 83.