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May 17, 2013

Mainer Kinney, former General Mills exec, dies at 96

E. Robert Kinney, former head of General Mills and Maine native, died last week in Arizona at the age of 96.

The Bangor Daily News reported Kinney served as president and chairman of Minneapolis-based General Mills from 1977 to 1981, during which time the company's sales grew from $1 billion to $5 billion and the number of employees jumped from 26,000 to 71,000.

Kinney launched his career by starting the North Atlantic Packing Co., a canning and packaging company in Bangor, around 1940.

He went on to serve as vice president and, later, CEO of Gloucester, Mass.-based Gorton's Seafood Co., where he is credited with developing and popularizing frozen fish sticks.

During his long career, the paper reported, Kinney served as a director for many companies, including Honeywell, Unum, Sun Oil, Idexx, Hannaford and Fisher Price.

Kinney was also known for philanthropy and education investment in the state and had supported The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor and sold the land and buildings that would later become the College of the Atlantic.

Kinney, who was born in Burnham and raised in Pittsfield, was also a graduate of Bates College, where he served on the board of trustees for 27 years, 17 of those as chairman.

Services for Kinney will be held today in Minneapolis.

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