From the tube of applesauce that astronaut John Glenn took on his space flight to the prepared meals soldiers eat in the field, Dwight E. Reed was always trying to find the perfect package.
Mr. Reed, 81, a retired packaging expert for American Can Co. and former manager of the company’s Food Research and Technology Laboratory in Barrington, died Monday, Dec. 5, of a blood disorder in his Barrington home.
Mr. Reed also was a former chairman of Research and Development Associates for Military Food and Packaging Systems, a not-for-profit group that worked with the government in the 1980s to develop the current Meals Ready to Eat, or MREs, that are distributed to military personnel.
“With the trade association, he helped the government get in on the early development of the packaging” of the MREs, said Bud Strassheim, president of Softcan Technology and past board member of the association. “It started in the early 1980s, and he was very instrumental in also making sure the government received the quality packaging for the MRE program.”
When a problem was discovered with leakage, Mr. Reed’s knowledge was sought to find a solution, former co-worker Arnold Kopetz said.
The results of Mr. Reed’s expertise also can be found on grocery shelves today, Kopetz said. While manager of American Can’s lab, Mr. Reed developed a process that prevents botulism from forming in canned foods.
“If [food producers] didn’t have the sufficient cooking time and temperature, botulism could develop,” Kopetz said. “With the science and his staff, Mr. Reed developed the correct cooking time and temperature before food was canned.”
Mr. Reed also was on a team that developed the tubed food for the space program.
“And whenever we visited the Smithsonian space exhibit in Washington, D.C., we would go visit the tube to see if it had exploded yet,” said his wife, Betty.
Born in 1923 and raised an only child in Cleveland, Mr. Reed attended Cornell University for a year before he joined the Army during World War II. He served in the 702nd Tank Destroyer Battalion, 2nd Armored Division.
He also was an honor guard at the Potsdam Conference.
After the war, he returned to Cornell, where he met his wife and sang in the university’s Sage Chapel Choir. He graduated in 1949 with a degree in nutritional science. He received a master’s degree in the field in 1951, the year he and his wife were married.
He was hired by American Can in 1951 and retired in 1988.
“He loved working with customers and working with their products and packaging,” his wife said. “He loved making the customers happy.”
Mr. Reed was particularly sensitive to the nutritional needs of others, his wife said.
For the last 15 years, he had been a volunteer at the Northern Illinois Food Bank in St. Charles and one of the organizers and treasurer of the Barrington Area Crop Walk.
“The fact is that there are hungry people out there, and he wanted to help,” his wife said.
The couple lived in Barrington for 37 years.
Other survivors include a son, Glenn; a daughter, Margaret Moran; and six grandchildren.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday in Barrington United Methodist Church, 98 Algonquin Rd., Barrington.
