Donald E. Goerke, a Waukesha native credited with inventing "SpaghettiOs" while working for Campbell Soup Co., died of heart failure Sunday in suburban Philadelphia. He was 83.
Goerke was a member of the Waukesha High School basketball team that won the state championship in 1944. He earned a bachelor's degree from what is now Carroll University and got a master's in statistics from the University of Wisconsin.
He worked as a market researcher for Blatz Brewery in Milwaukee before joining Campbell. In the early 1960s, Goerke was marketing research director of the Franco-American division and came up with the pasta product that was a hit with kids and parents, who liked that it could be eaten with a spoon and didn't create a big mess.
Goerke also was credited with introducing more than 100 products, including Campbell's Chunky Soup. The combined sales of SpaghettiOs and Chunky Soup reached more than $500 million per year.
