Arran Stephens
| Arran Stephens | |
|---|---|
Stephens in 2014
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| Born | British Columbia, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation | CEO and Co-Founder of Nature's Path Organic Foods, Inc., author, painter |
| Spouse(s) | Ratana |
| Children | Shanti, Gurdeep, Jyoti and Arjan |
| Parent(s) | Rupert and Gwen Stephens |
| Website | Arran's Blog |
Arran Stephens (born Arran Blackburn Stephens; 1944) is a Canadian entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist. He is co-founder of Nature's Path, a leading manufacturer of organic foods. He is regarded as a pioneer in the food industry and has received numerous acknowledgements for his work promoting sustainable agriculture, organics, and opposition to genetic food modification.
Arran Stephens was born on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, the son of Rupert Stephens, a berry farmer and songwriter, and Gwen Stephens. Stephens has a brother, Godfrey Stephens, a well-known Canadian artist. Stephens is of English and Scottish ancestry. His maternal great-grandfather was Lt. General JM Cripps, of the Bengal Staff Corps, India.
Stephens grew up on a berry farm on Vancouver Island until his early teens, when his parents relocated to Los Angeles, following his father’s pursuit of a songwriting career. For a brief time, Stephens attended Hollywood High School. In his later teen years, Stephens supported himself as a painter and poet with gallery showings in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City.
In 1964 while living in New York, Stephens became interested in spirituality and mysticism. In 1967 he traveled to India to study at an ashram under the guidance of well known spiritual teacher Sant Kirpal Singh. In 1967 Stephens moved to Vancouver and opened The Golden Lotus, Canada’s first vegetarian restaurant in the heart of Kitsilano.
In 1968, Stephens returned to India and married Ratana, and returned with his new wife to Canada.
In 1971, Arran (and Ratana) opened LifeStream Natural Foods, a retailer and distributor of organic foods that was eventually sold to Kraft Foods in 1981. Around that time, the Arran and Ratana would go on to open “Woodlands,” a successful vegetarian restaurant in Vancouver. In 1985, the Stephens’ founded Nature's Path, and by 1990 would open North America's first certified organic breakfast cereal production facility in Delta, British Columbia.
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