The Idaho Business Review, Steven Anderson, August 21, 2000
Finally, someone's written a biography of J.R. "Jack" Simplot. Idaho's spud king, and sometime computer-chip angel, is known for his homespun humor
Dave Wilkins, Capital Press, August 25, 2000
first detailed biography of J. R. Simplot, one of Idaho and the West's most successful entrepreneurs
Book Description
This is the story of John Richard "Jack" Simplot-who dropped out of school at age 14 to parlay a few pigs into one of the largest privately-held companies in America. Today public stock offerings for new "dot com" companies make their young founders rich (at least on paper) overnight. J. R. Simplot is one of the last classic Horatio Alger success stories. He spent 75 years building his empire the hard way. The 90-year-old Simplot also is one of the few 20th century industrialists to successfully make the transition to the high tech business world of the new millennium. Dr. Louie Attebery uses hundreds of hours of research and interviews to paint a fascinating word portrait of this colorful, outspoken billionaire.
About the Author
Dr. Louie W. Attebery is an authority on American Folklore. He is former chariman of the Department of English at Albertson's College of Idaho in Caldwell, Idaho. He was a member of the first executive council of the Western Literature Association. Dr. Attebery is a former editor of Northwest Folklore and is a contributor to the Encyclopedia of American Folklore.
J. R. Simplot: A Billion the Hard Way SYNOPSIS
This is the story of John Richard "Jack" Simplot-who dropped out
of school at age 14 to parlay a few pigs into one of the largest
privately-held companies in America.
Today public stock offerings for new "dot com" companies make their young
founders rich (at least on paper) overnight. J. R. Simplot is one of the
last classic Horatio Alger success stories. He spent 75 years building his
empire
the hard way.
The 90-year-old Simplot also is one of the few 20th century industrialists
to successfully make the transition to the high tech business world of the
new millennium.
Dr. Louie Attebery uses hundreds of hours of research and interviews to
paint a fascinating word portrait of this colorful, outspoken billionaire.
About The Author
Dr. Louie W. Attebery is an authority on American
folklore. He is former chairman of the Department of English at The College
of Idaho in Caldwell, Idaho. He was a member of the first executive council
of the Western Literature Association. He has given numerous talks on
American and Western folklore and was folklife consultant for the 1974
World's Fair in Spokane, Washington. He has written numerous articles for
regional and national publications. Dr. Attebery is a former editor of
Northwest Foklore and is a contributor to the Encyclopedia of American
Folklore. He has written several books, and edited Idaho Folklife:
Homesteads to Headstones.
FROM THE CRITICS
Booknews
Folklorist Attebery (formerly English, the College of Idaho, Caldwell) tells the story of the self-made Idahoan, how he made his fortune in potatoes, his fervent patriotism, and his family's plans for their legacy. Reconstructed from archival research and interviews with Simplot and his family, and featuring long quotes from these sources, this rags-to-riches success story will appeal to entrepreneurs and those interested in the history of farming and the American West. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Steven Anderson
Finally, someone's written a biography of J.R. "Jack" Simplot.
Idaho's spud king, and sometime computer-chip angel, is known for his
homespun humor and salty anecdotes, and these characteristics are abundantly
portrayed in J.R. Simplot: A billion the hard way, published by Caxton
Press, Caldwell. ...
Working with J. R. Simplot Co. officials, family members, associates and the
main character himself, Attebery complied a straightforward but colorful
story of the man who made french fries a giant industry and in later life
supplied much of the capital foundation for what became Idaho's largest
employer and the nation's only maker of computer memory chips, Micron
Technology, Inc.
Needless to say, this is an authorized biography, and while it certainly
represents Simplot, now 91, in a positive light, its author can't be accused
of hagiography; there is a muted warts-and-all quality to the story.
&$151, The Idaho Business Review
Dave Wilkins
He dropped out of school and left home when he was 14, determined to make it
on his own.
He bought a few hundred pigs for practically nothing and kept them alive
through the winter on a diet of cooked cull potatoes and wild horse meat.
When the market rebounded, he sold them for $7,800, a good sum for a
teenager in any era, but a small fortune indeed for a boy from Declo, Idaho,
in 1922.
It's the stuff legend of legend, and most Idahoans-certainly most Idaho
farmers and ranchers-will recognize it as the beginning of the J. R. Simplot
story.
Now the legend has been put down on paper by a noted folklorist in the first
detailed biography of S. R. Simplot, one of Idaho and the West's most
successful entrepreneurs and the architect of what has become one of the
largest privately held companies in the United States. ...
Attebery recounts how Simplot parlayed his pig money into a string of fresh
pack potato sheds all along the Snake River Valley from Vale, Ore., to Idaho
Falls, then later, how he began producing dehydrated onions an potatoes for
the U.S. military during World War II. He also tells how the company later
played a key role in the development of frozen french fries for the retail
and fast-food markets, landing such customers as Safeway and McDonald's
Corp.
The book also contains 32 pages of photographs, many of them taken from
Simplot family albums dating back to when J. R. Simplot was a toddler.
Simplot, "is a far more complex figure than many people assume,"
Atterbery said in a review this week.
— Capital Press
Art & Photography
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