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<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge) Irvine Robbins in 1976   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Ice cream and doughnuts 5/7/08   CONTACT THE HERALD Do you have a news tip? newstips@heraldnet.com | 425.339.3400   Published: Wednesday, May 7, 2008 Baskin-Robbins co-founder Irvine Robbins dies at 90 Associated Press and Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES -- Irvine Robbins, who as co-founder of Baskin-Robbins brought Rocky Road, Pralines 'n Cream and other exotic ice creams to every corner of America, has died at age 90. Robbins had been ill for some time and died Monday at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., said his daughter Marsha Veit. Generations of kids trooped to Baskin-Robbins stores to buy ice cream flavors such as Jamoca, Daiquiri Ice, Pink Bubblegum, Nuts to You and Here Comes the Fudge. "Frankly, I never met a flavor I didn't like," Robbins told The New York Times in 1973. When the Beatles were to arrive in the United States in 1964, a reporter called to ask whether Baskin-Robbins was going to commemorate the event with a new flavor. Robbins didn't have a flavor planned but quickly replied, "Uh, Beatle Nut, of course." The flavor was created, manufactured and delivered in just five days, according to the Web site. The son of a dairyman, Robbins grew up scooping cones in his family's Tacoma ice cream store. He recalled that he often "finished a day's work happy" and wanted that same feeling when he started his own business. Robbins opened his first ice cream store in Glendale, Calif., in December 1945, following his discharge from the Army. He used $6,000 from a cashed-in insurance policy his father had given him for his bar mitzvah. His brother-in-law, the late Burton Baskin, opened his own ice cream store in neighboring Pasadena a year later. By the end of the 1940s, they had joined forces to create Baskin-Robbins. Robbins recalled they used a flip of the coin to decide which name came first. They also decided to sell their stores to managers, pioneering the franchise concept for ice cream stores. Today, Baskin-Robbins is part of Dunkin' Brands Inc. and has more than 5,800 franchises worldwide.

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