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Jeno Paulucci

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Entrepreneur

The Resume

    (July 5, 1918-November 24, 2011)
    Born in Aurora, Minnesota
    Started 70 companies
    Best known brands were Chun King canned Chinese food, Jeno's Pizza Rolls, and Michellina's frozen Italian pasta
    Sold Chun King to R.J. Reynolds for $63 million (1966) and Jeno's Pizza Rolls to Pillsbury for $135 million (1985)

Why he might be annoying:

    During an early job peddling fruit, he would label bananas with stained skins as 'exotic Argentine imports' and charge extra for them.
    He was a workaholic who said, 'Relaxing makes me nervous.'
    He micromanaged his businesses.
    When a column in the 'Duluth Star Tribune' ticked him off, he wrote a five-page response and ordered the company pilot to fly him 300 miles to Duluth so he could deliver the complaint in person.
    He held grudges, once starting a pie-filling company and selling the product at a loss so he could drive a former business partner into bankruptcy.

Why he might not be annoying:

    After selling Chun King, he distributed $2 million of the proceedings to longtime employees.
    Unlike many business owners, he was pro-union and believed the minimum wage should be increased.
    He established training programs for the handicapped, the mentally challenged, ex-convicts and other hard-to-place workers, earning Employer of the Year honors from the President's Council on Employment of the Handicapped (1972).
    He helped bring a civic center and an airport to Duluth, prompting the mayor to say, 'There is no question that Jeno was the most important figure in the history of northeastern Minnesota in the past 50 years.'
    After Hurricane Katrina, he and his wife sent 100,000 gallons of drinking water to New Orleans.
    He died four days after his wife of 64 years, Lois Mae Trepanier.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 11 Votes: 63.64% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 12 Votes: 41.67% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 71 Votes: 76.06% Annoying