Mr. Coffee Creator Has Passed Away

In the second food-related death to hit the news this morning, The New York Times reports that Samuel Glazer, co-creator of Mr. Coffee, has died. He was 89.

Glazer and his friend Vincent Marotta Sr. adapted the industrial automatic drip coffeemaker for the home, introducing the machine to the home market in 1972. This was at a time where one could only brew coffee at home with a percolator, or just settle on instant coffee.

As The New York Times writes, "There is a great dividing year in the history of coffee in America, and it is 1972. Before it, the percolator. After, automatic drip."

Since then, other automatic drip coffeemakers have been introduced to the market (and other methods of brewing your morning cup of joe), but even in 2002, Mr. Coffee was considered one of the most important home products in the past 75 years by trade publication Home Furnishings News.