Bob’s Red Mill Founder Bob Moore Dead at 94: ‘We Will Truly Miss His Energy’

Bob Moore, founder of Bob’s Red Mill, a whole grain company, has died. He was 94 years old.

A statement posted on Bob’s Red Mill’s official Instagram on Saturday announced Moore’s death and celebrated his life and “larger-than-life personality.”

“It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that our founder, Bob Moore, has left this world today, Saturday, February 10, 2024,” the statement said. “He was 94 years old and had the same love for healthy food as he did the day he started Bob’s Red Mill.”

Accompanying the message were photos of Moore from Oregon, including one of the late founders wearing a red Bob’s Red Mill jacket. In another photo, Moore was joined by his late wife Charlee, who died in 2018, as they sat together.

Moore, founder of Bob’s Red Mill, died at the age of 94 on Saturday, February 10.

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“Bob’s passion, ingenuity and respect for others will forever inspire the employee-owners of Bob’s Red Mill,” the statement said. “And we will continue his legacy by bringing healthy food to people around the world.”

“We will truly miss his energy and extraordinary personality,” the message concludes.

The last photo included in the post shows the younger Moore posing with a group of employees outside his store, Moore’s Flour Mill, which he opened in 1974 in Redding, California, before developing Bob’s Red Mill.

Representatives for Bob’s Red Mill did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Moore was born in Portland and raised in Los Angeles, before moving to Redding and then Milwaulkie, Oregon, according to Portland Monthly.

Moore pictured with his employees at his shop, Moore’s Flour Mill.

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His successful culinary career began out of a longing for a healthier diet than he and his wife Charlee, whom he married in 1953 after meeting on a blind date the year before.

“We had to change the way we eat,” Moore told PEOPLE in 2019 about their initial idea. “We’ve become very into whole grain healthy foods.”

Shortly after getting married and starting a family, Bob and Charlee opened a stone flour mill in Redding, where they produced healthy grains and flour. Moore and Charlee later opened Bob’s Red Mill in Milwaukee in 1978, when Moore was 50 years old. The business was focused on the sale of natural food, and it is still thriving today.

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“If I had my life to live over, I would have started very early in this business. You know, I started in the middle of my life,” Moore explained. CBS in the 2020 interview.

However, by 2010, Bob’s Red Mill had become a $100 million company that Moore gifted to his employees. “They’ve made us a top company that I’m proud of,” he explained to PEOPLE in 2019.

Moore also discussed this business move to Portland Monthly, explaining that, “The Bible says do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And so there’s an element of your behavior toward people that impressed me. And sharing the profits, sharing in society to make things more just and benevolent impressed me and I felt strongly about it.”

When the pandemic hit in 2020, the company saw an exponential increase in sales along with a slowdown in yeast products, according to Moore, following panic over food shortages and overeating from baking during the quarantine.

Moore is survived by three sons, Ken, Bob Jr. and David, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

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Source: HIS Education