Edwin Perkins

Inventor

Birthday January 8, 1889

Birth Sign Capricorn

Birthplace Iowa

DEATH DATE Jul 3, 1961 (72)

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About

In the late 1920s, this Nebraska-based inventor came up with the recipe for a popular powdered beverage that he named Kool-Ade and that eventually became known as Kool-Aid.

Before Fame

In his early adulthood years, he launched the Onor-Maid line of mail order items, which included a popular powdered liquid product called Fruit-Smack that was similar to Kool-Aid.

Trivia

He made philanthropic contributions to the Perkins Library, the Perkins Recital Hall, and several other Nebraska cultural institutions.

Family Life

He spent his earliest years in Lewis, Iowa, and the bulk of his childhood in Hastings, Nebraska. He was raised in the Christian faith and was married to Kitty Shoemaker.

Associated With

The well known 20th-century journalist and writer Tom Wolfe penned a book -- The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test -- that includes Perkins' famous product in its title.