Jeno F. Paulucci*

The son of Italian immigrants, Jeno Paulucci was born in the mining town of Aurora, Minnesota, and was raised in Hibbing, Minnesota. His father started as a miner, but eventually operated a small grocery store. To help his family's meager finances, Paulucci sold iron-ore samples to tourists visiting the area. He also collected coal around the railroad tracks to help keep his family warm. When he was 12, he worked in his father's grocery store, where he hawked fruits and vegetables for $3 a week.

After graduating from high school, Paulucci attended junior college with plans to become a lawyer, but he decided he could earn more money buying and selling food. He cut a deal with a wholesaler in St. Paul to sell groceries in Minnesota's Iron Range region. To launch his business, he lived out of his 1929 Ford, selling products by the carload to local grocers. He slept in the car and used gas station bathrooms to wash and shave.

Paulucci built his business and expanded his territory. Eventually, he ventured out on his own by borrowing $2,500 to rent a Quonset hut, where he experimented with making canned Chinese food. That business became Chun King. He went on to create, finance, or lead more than 50 privately held companies and organizations in a career spanning 70 years of entrepreneurship. His energy and creativity revolutionized the food industry. He pioneered domestication of wild rice on his 5,000 acres of Wilderness Farms in northeastern Minnesota. He also launched RJR Foods, Inc. (later RJR Nabisco) as its founding chairman, and he was the creative mind behind dozens of patents for processes to prepare and package foods. His Luigino's, Inc., the producers of Michelina's and Budget Gourmet brands, became one of the world's leading packers of frozen entrees.

In 2002, Ernst & Young selected Paulucci as U.S. Entrepreneur of the Year; in 2003, the company was inducted into the World Academy of Entrepreneurs in Monaco. In 2005, he was honored for his entrepreneurship, activism, and leadership among tens of thousands of entrepreneurs worldwide over the past two decades.

Paulucci founded both the Minnesota Organization for Economic Education and the National Italian American Foundation. Paulucci and his family were the developers of Heathrow in central Florida.

Paulucci said, "Success is measured in what kind of reputation you leave behind, your children and grandchildren, and what you did for your community, your state, and your nation."