A food scientist, Traisman was the director of food research at Kraft Foods, where he helped develop new food products such as individually wrapped cheese slices, instant pudding, and Cheez Whiz.
He’s probably better known for walking into a McDonald’s restaurant and asking a man who was sweeping up if he could see the manager about buying a franchise. The sweeper turned out to be McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc, who promptly sold him one. Traisman eventually owned five outlets, and helped to solve a problem for the chain: how to freeze french fries. (Potatoes don’t freeze well when raw; Traisman developed a method to partially cook them and then freeze them for best results.)
But Traisman probably should be known for another innovation: he allowed women to work in his restaurants. At the time, that was against McDonald’s rules. “It almost caused him to lose the franchise,” said his wife, Dorothy Traisman. “It was quite innovative.” He died June 5 from a heart attack at 91.