{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2017}} '''James Marker''' (June 27, 1921 – May 2, 2012) was an American-born Canadian businessman who invented Cheezies, a brand of cheese curl snack food popular in Canada.<ref name=tstar>{{cite news |first=Lesley |last=Ciarula Taylor |title=Cheezies inventor dies in Belleville, Ont., at 90 |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/cheezies-inventor-dies-in-belleville-ont-at-90/article_11f359bb-dbee-577e-a78b-9f3cf6f7bd0b.html |work=Toronto Star |date=May 3, 2012 |access-date=2024-09-02}}</ref> Marker also established the Belleville Aerodrome, a private airport, in 1961.<ref name=tstar/>
Marker was born in Dayton, Ohio.<ref name=tstar/> Marker, who was originally a farmer, worked within the confectionery industry in Chicago, Illinois, for many years.<ref name=cbc>{{cite news |title=Canadian inventor of Cheezies snacks dies |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2012/05/canadian-inventor-of-cheezies-snacks-dies.html |work=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date=May 2, 2012 |access-date=2012-05-15}}</ref> However, Marker invented a new machine used to process cornmeal.<ref name=tstar/> The machine caught the attention of Marker's business partner, W. T. Hawkins.<ref name=tstar/> Together, Marker and Hawkins moved to Canada and founded the W. T. Hawkin Company in 1949, which manufactures the Cheezies snack.<ref name=tstar/> Marker and Hawkin originally started their new company in Tweed, Ontario, to take advantage of the areas railroads to ship their Cheezies.<ref name=cbc/> A fire destroyed their original Tweed factory in 1956, and they relocated to their company's current location in Belleville, Ontario.<ref name=cbc/>
They concentrated exclusively on Cheezies after dropping other snack foods from their portfolio.<ref name=tstar/> Marker designed the machine used to create Cheezies, which shaped the snacks, cooked them in vegetable shortening, and coated the snacks with aged cheddar.<ref name=cbc/> No two Cheezies pieces are exactly alike.<ref name=tstar/> Marker's original machine is still used to manufacture Cheezies at the company's plant, as of 2012.<ref name=tstar/> Marker remained Vice President of the W. T. Hawkin Company until his death in 2012.<ref name=tstar/> He last visited the Cheezies factory for a surprise inspection in March 2012.<ref name=tstar/>Outside of the snack food industry, Marker established the Belleville Aerodrome in Ontario in 1961 and in 1972 established a flying school and air charter business, Loyal Air Ltd.<ref name=tstar/> He frequently used the airport to fly his Apache plane.<ref name=tstar/> Marker died on May 2, 2012, at his home in Belleville, Ontario, at the age of 90.<ref name=tstar/> The W. T. Hawkin's Cheezies factory closed for the remainder of the day upon news of Marker's death.<ref name=tstar/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marker, James}} Category:1921 births Category:2012 deaths Category:Canadian businesspeople in the food industry Category:20th-century Canadian inventors Category:American emigrants to Canada Category:Businesspeople from Belleville, Ontario