James L. Kraft

James Lewis Kraft was a Canadian-American entrepreneur and inventor. Kraft emigrated to the United States from Canada in 1902 and established a wholesale cheese distribution business, J.L. Kraft & Bros. Company, in 1903. The business eventually became Kraft Foods Inc., the former multinational confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. He also developed a patented pasteurization process for cheese that did not require refrigeration, allowing it to be shipped long distances, and putting him among the first to patent a processed cheese.