Original Gerber baby Ann Turner Cook dies aged 95: Food firm pays tribute to a teacher and writer whose 'smile and expressive curiosity captured hearts everywhere'

Daily Mail UK ^ | June 4, 2022 | Alyssa Guzman

[Morgana]

The original Gerber baby, whose face has been on the jar for more than 90 years, died at age 95 on Friday, the company confirmed.

The firm said it was 'deeply saddened' by the loss of Ann Turner Cook and offered their condolences to the family.

'Many years before becoming an extraordinary mother, teacher and writer, her smile and expressive curiosity captured hearts everywhere and will continue to live on as a symbol for all babies,' Gerber wrote in an Instagram tribute.

Cook, who was born in 1926, only spent a few months of her life not being the iconic face of the one the biggest American baby brands.

Her neighbor, Dorothy Hope Smith, drew the little girl using charcoal and entered her sketch into a 1928 baby food advertising campaign held by Gerber. The company wanted to change up their packaging from ABC blocks to an actual baby's face.

Smith noted to the company that she would complete the sketch and make it into an oil painting if she were to win, but the company loved the basic sketch so much, they decided to keep it.

Cook's face became the trademark of the brand in 1991 and they copyrighted it in 1993 after it gained so much popularity.

The original sketch is actually framed and still at the company's Fremont, Michigan headquarters.

Over the years, speculation and rumors swirled that the famous baby was the likes of 'Humphrey Bogart or Elizabeth Taylor or Senator Bob Dole,' the company remarked. Gerber hid the Cook's identity for 40 years, only revealing the beloved face's name in 1978 after doing a survey for fans to guess who it was.

Cook herself didn't even know she was face of the baby brand until she was three years old.

[skr]

You’re welcome. I hadn’t heard of her before but always thought the Gerber baby drawing was excellent.