A remembrance of Ron Doggett, who passed away earlier this month. 

Around 1988, after running Rachel’s Brownies, our Philadelphia-based bakery business for 13 years, my wife and I agreed that we would sell our company. Started by my wife around 1975, we grew the companies with a fantastic team of kind, caring people who were artisans first and bakery workers second. Together we created a great brand. Chocolate and butterscotch raced through the veins of each of us, who lovingly crafted tens of thousands of brownies each day that were sold on airlines, specialty, convenience, and grocery stores. They were even served to an American President, Ronald Reagan.

But the time had come for the next chapter in our lives. Neither of us had a clue what that meant.

I was a naïve, inexperienced President of a multi-million dollar brownie bakery, but hungry for a new challenge.

We spoke to many of the biggest food and bakery companies, along with several mid-sized firms. But one stood out, right from the beginning. That company was called GoodMark Foods, and it was based in Raleigh, North Carolina. This company owned a few bakeries businesses in Pennsylvania, some packaged meat brands in North Carolina, and their flagship brand was the iconic Slim Jims. They also had a portfolio of additional snack brands like Pemmican, Andy Capp’s, Penrose, and Tijuana Mama.

I remember thinking, what would it be like to have a job, not be in charge, and work in an office filled with MBAs? I still remember feeling shocked that Ron and his colleagues wanted me to work at GoodMark and continue with the business when we finalized the deal.

GoodMark Foods wasn’t a mom-and-pop company – but a professionally run organization with Ron Doggett at the helm. Unlike our humble little wholesale bakery, GoodMark had people with titles like CEO, CFO, and COO. I had to ask what those titles meant.

Meeting Ron Doggett in Raleigh

I distinctly remember my first meeting with Ron when my wife and I flew down to Raleigh to talk with him and executive team members. I was a bit clueless about selling our bakery, and it was all surreal. But there was something so calming and reassuring in Ron.

Ron was mid-western humble, kind, and soft-spoken. And he asks the most insightful questions. Ron made us feel welcomed.

Raised in Minnesota, Ron was not like most other CEOs or business executives we met as we talked to companies who expressed an interest in Rachel’s Brownies. There wasn’t any chest beating or bragging with Ron – just quiet conversation about our business and what he saw in the future.

Over dinner with Ron that evening at Winston’s, I understood that selling “our baby” meant letting go. And, we wanted to do that with someone we could trust who would do his best to help us grow the brand.

Ron was simply Ron.

Kind and a great listener, Ron was genuinely interested in learning more about our personal lives, our young daughters Sarah and Fanny, as well as our dreams and hopes for our wholesale bakery. He immediately made us feel at home months before we finalized our transaction to sell our business. We felt like the only thing on his mind was making us feel welcomed not the mounds of legal documents that needed to be signed.

I often think about Maya Angelou’s famous words:

‘I‘ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.‘

Maya Angelou

Ron always made me feel heard and seen.

Sadly, Ron passed away on October 4. I saw a notice online. All I could think was a great man who touched so many lives in his eighty-seven years.

Ironically, I had just commented on LinkedIn about an article written about Ron in Walter, a local Raleigh-based magazine. The story was about Ron and his memoir called Doggett Determination. Believing in Yourself to Create Success in Life and Business.

Everyone had something heartwarming to say about Ron.

He must have been interviewed a few months back, and at the time of my posting online, I didn’t know of his passing when I commented about the story. My post got so many likes and comments because I was shining a spotlight on one of the most generous and well-respected people I have been privileged to know.

A Good Man

Ron Emil Doggett was born on December 2, 1934, to Inez Baldus Doggett and Emil Day Doggett in Austin, Minnesota.

Ron began his career with General Mills as an internal auditor in 1961 and married Jeanette in 1962. He was appointed Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Slim Jim, Inc., a division of General Mills, in 1967. Slim Jim, Inc. was later renamed GoodMark Foods, and Ron moved to Raleigh in 1970 to serve as its Assistant Controller.

In 1982 Ron led a unique leveraged buyout of GoodMark Foods. He took the company through an Initial Public Offering in 1985. In 1993 Forbes Magazine named GoodMark Foods as #11 of the 100 Best Small Companies in America, and Ron was selected as Inc. Magazine’s Entrepreneur of the Year in Manufacturing.

ConAgra Foods acquired GoodMark in 1998, and Ron remained Chairman and CEO until he retired from ConAgra in 1999. He was initiated into the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by the State of North Carolina in 1999, and in 2004 he was inducted into N.C. Business Hall of Fame. In 2014 he was presented with the Greater Raleigh Chamber A.E. Finley Distinguished Service Award. Ron served on numerous corporate, academic, church, and nonprofit boards, with the intent to be transformative with his business knowledge and his passion for helping others.

In 1999, Ron was named Philanthropist of the Year by N.C. Planned Giving Council, a tribute to the charitable groups he and Jeanette were actively engaged with, such as The Wake Med Hospital and Foundation, Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh, Mankato State University, The Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, Habitat for Humanity of Wake County, The North Carolina Museum of Art, and St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Raleigh.

Leaving his Mark

In my 67 years on this earth, I worked with a handful of great business leaders who shaped my career and helped change the trajectory of my journey.

Ron was one of these special individuals who demonstrated that you don’t have to shout to be heard. By listening more and talking less, he learned everything he needed to know about a challenge. Ron always asked the best questions. And when Ron spoke to you – you felt that he was never distracted by competing people or issues.

Perhaps my fondest memory of all was in 1995 when we brought Macho Man Randy Savage to our offices and then to the Slim Jim plant in Garner, N.C. Ron knew I had one of Randy’s costumes in my office, and he insisted on wearing Randy’s costume when we brought Randy in to sign autographs.

The photograph of us together reminds me how fortunate I was to have known Ron and the good mark he left on my life. Ron led an inspiring life, with family always at his center.

Everyone who knew Ron will never forget the mark of goodness that he left on them.

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