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TheDay.com - Creator of Lemonheads, Atomic Fire Balls dies | Southeastern Connecticut News, Sports, Weather and Video | The Day newspaper

Creator of Lemonheads, Atomic Fire Balls dies

Published 02/10/2012 12:00 AM
Updated 02/09/2012 11:42 PM

River Forest, Ill. - Candy company executive Nello Ferrara lived a sweet life.

The man who brought the world Lemonheads and Atomic Fire Balls died Friday at his home in River Forest at 93.

The Forest Park-based Ferrara Pan company was started in 1908, and Nello Ferrara took it over from his father decades ago. The company, which also makes Red Hots and Boston Baked Beans, produces 1 million pounds of candy a day, said Ferrara's son, Salvatore.

Ferrara, the company's current president and CEO, said his birth inspired his father to invent the Lemonhead candy. "He always claimed that when I was born, that I came out of my mother sideways ... and my head was shaped like a lemon," he said.

The Atomic Fire Ball was invented after Nello Ferrara's time in Japan shortly after World War II.

-Associated Press

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