Lemonheads, Atomic Fireballs Creator Nello Ferrara Dies

Reports this week indicate that Ferrara Pan Candy's founder Nello Ferrara has died at age 93 in his Illinois home.

The Lemonheads and Atomic Fireballs creator died Friday in his home in River Forest.

Ferrara's company also hosts production of Red Hots, Black Forest Gummy Bears, Boston Baked Beans, and Jawbusters.

Reporting on the death of the candy creator, The Chicago Sun-Times highlighted Ferrara's life before he became chairman. The newspaper spoke to Chicago's Ferrara Pan Candy Company CEO and Ferrara's son, Salvatore Ferrara II.

Ferrara said his father had to repeat the first grade "because they said he didn't speak English well enough," but Ferrara went on to attend St. Ignatius College Prep and DePaul University Law School.

The candy company founder was a young attorney when he worked on a U.S. Army war tribunal in Tokyo, where he often saw General Douglas MacArthur.

"They worked in the same building," said Ferrara, whose father described the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers as "his own man. You did what he said, and that was it. He was pretty stern."

In 1954 the idea for Atomic Fireballs occurred to Ferrara, with Lemonheads following in 1962. His company now employs an estimated 800 people and produces about one million pounds of candy a year. Ferrera Pan Candy has plants in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, with flagships in Bellwood and Forest Park.

Up until his death Friday, Ferrara enjoyed playing cards and golfing at Ridgemoor Country Club while never giving up his lifelong passion for singing.

According to his son, Ferrara once sang alongside Frank Sinatra, and afterward deemed himself more talented that the famed crooner.

The president of the National Confectioner's Association Larry Graham said Ferrara served the candy-making business very well.

"He was an icon in the industry," Graham told the Sun-Times. "He was known for helping out other candy companies in distress, for cementing deals with just a handshake, and for being a great ambassador for the industry."