Tillie Lewis, pioneering businesswoman known as the 'Tomato Queen,' died in New York City.
Tillie Lewis died in 1977 in New York City, leaving behind a legacy as one of the most successful and pioneering businesswomen of the 20th century. Having built Flotill Products into a canning empire and later ventured into the diet-food industry with Tillie Lewis Foods, she had become known nationally as the "Tomato Queen."
Her passing marked the end of an era for a woman who had broken through significant barriers—as a woman, and in a heavily male-dominated agricultural-industrial sector—to build a business empire valued in the tens of millions of dollars. She served on bank boards, was active in civic and philanthropic causes, and remained a trailblazer for women in business throughout her life.
Her legacy lives on through the continued success of California's processed tomato industry and through her example as a self-made entrepreneur who overcame anti-Semitism, sexism, and economic hardship to become an industry titan.