Ice cream's Robbins dies at 90
LOS ANGELES — Irvine Robbins, who as co-founder of Baskin-Robbins brought Rocky Road, Pralines 'n Cream and other exotic ice cream concoctions to every corner of America, has died at age 90.
Robbins had been ill for some time and died Monday at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., according to his daughter, Marsha Veit.
While the company advertised that it offered 31 flavors, in fact it has created more than 1,000 flavors, according to its Web site.
Generations of children trooped to Baskin-Robbins stores to buy ice cream flavors like Jamoca, Daiquiri Ice, Pink Bubblegum, Nuts to You and Here Comes the Fudge.
"Frankly, I never met a flavor I didn't like," Robbins told The New York Times in 1973.
Some were short-lived and created to mark specific events, such as Lunar Cheesecake for the moon landings and Valley Forge Fudge for the 1976 bicentennial.
Robbins opened his first ice cream store in Glendale, Calif., in December 1945, following his discharge from the Army. He offered 21 flavors.
His brother-in-law, the late Burton Baskin, opened his own ice cream store in neighboring Pasadena a year later. By the end of the 1940s, they had joined forces to create Baskin-Robbins. Robbins recalled they used the flip of a coin to decide which name came first.
