Edward J. Piszek developer of the Peace Corps Partners in Teaching English, dies in Philadelphia
Mrs. Paul's co-founder Piszek dead at 87
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Published Sat, Mar 27, 2004
By BILL BERGSTROM, Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Edward J. Piszek, co-founder of the Mrs. Paul's frozen fish empire and a friend of Pope John Paul II, died Saturday. He was 87.
Piszek died of bone cancer at his home in Fort Washington, north of Philadelphia, surrounded by family members, said his son, Bill Piszek.
Edward Piszek had worked at General Electric Co. and Campbell Soup Co. before he formed Mrs. Paul's Kitchens Inc. in 1946 with $350 and the help of a friend, whom he bought out in the 1950s. When he sold the company in 1982, annual sales topped $100 million.
"Mrs. Paul's was no little fish by the time he got done with it," Bill Piszek said.
Edward Piszek bought and shipped equipment to Poland to fight the tuberculosis that devastated the country during the 1960s and befriended the pope, then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Krakow, in 1964. He donated 10 million pounds of food during Poland's food shortages in the early 1980s.
Piszek also developed the Peace Corps Partners in Teaching English, which sends teachers to European countries, and helped airlift food to Ukraine after the Chernobyl nuclear plant explosion in 1986.
Bill Piszek, 44, recalled meeting Presidents Nixon, Reagan, Carter and George W. Bush in the company of his father.
Edward Piszek also founded the Copernicus Society of America to inform those of Polish descent about their heritage, and provided equipment for Little League baseball in Poland. In 1992, he received the Rotary International Award for World Understanding and Peace.
Piszek is survived by four children and 12 grandchildren.
