A food scientist at General Foods for 35 years, Mitchell held over 70 patents on products as diverse as Cool Whip, instant Jell-O, and Tang. And he invented a substitute for tapioca when supplies ran low in World War II.
But he’ll be best known as the inventor of a new candy when he was actually trying to develop an instant soft drink by mixing flavoring and carbon dioxide: Pop Rocks. He did it in 1956, but the candy wasn’t introduced until 1975, when it became an instant hit. It died as quickly after false rumors spread that eating the candy and washing it down with soda caused deadly “stomach explosion.”
Mitchell retired in 1976, and spent years trying to dispel the rumor. He died July 26 in Stockton, Calif., from congestive heart failure, at 92.