Dead, Vincent Marotta Sr., Home-Caffeination Pioneer Who Invented Mr. Coffee, Dies at 91.
Vincent Marotta Sr., who as a creator of the Mr. Coffee machine helped send the percolator the way of the one-horse shay, died on Saturday at his home in Pepper Pike, Ohio.
He was 91. His daughter Susan Parente confirmed his death.
Mr. Coffee became a market leader almost immediately. By 1979, Forbes reported, the company was generating $150 million in annual sales and held a market share of at least 50 percent versus rivals like Norelco, General Electric and Proctor-Silex.
Vincent Marotta was signed as a center fielder by the Cardinals soon after he graduated from high school.
But World War II intervened, and after Army service stateside, he earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio.