Jerry Greenfield
| Jerry Greenfield | |
|---|---|
Jerry Greenfield in 2010
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| Born |
March 14, 1951 Brooklyn, New York |
| Residence | Williston, Vermont |
| Alma mater | Oberlin College (1973) |
| Occupation | Co-founder of Ben & Jerry's |
| Home town | Merrick, New York |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Skarie |
| Children | 1 |
Jerry Greenfield (born March 14, 1951) is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings, Inc.
Throughout his childhood, Greenfield lived in New York City, on Long Island. In 1969, he enrolled at Oberlin College, where he followed a pre-med curriculum before graduating in 1973. He applied unsuccessfully for medical school in two successive years, 1973 and 1974.
In 1978 Greenfield and his friend Ben Cohen opened Ben and Jerry's Homemade ice cream scoop shop in an old gas station in downtown Burlington, Vermont. The company has since opened almost 200 franchised shops and reports earnings of $237 million annually.
Jerry Greenfield was born in Brooklyn, New York, into a Jewish family, son of a . He lived on Long Island throughout his youth until he left to attend Oberlin College in 1969. In 1963, Greenfield met Ben Cohen during gym class at Merrick Avenue Junior High School. Their initial bond formed when the gym teacher yelled at them for running the mile too slow and warned they would have to run a second mile. At this point, Cohen yelled back, "Gee coach, if I don't do it in under seven minutes the first time, I'm certainly not going to do it in under seven minutes the second time", at which point, Greenfield knew he liked him. Over the next few years, their friendship grew until the two graduated from Calhoun High School and split up to attend separate colleges.
Greenfield was known for being hard-working and studious throughout high school and when he chose to pursue a pre-med curriculum at Oberlin, it took nobody by surprise. At Oberlin, Greenfield began working as an ice cream scooper in the school's cafeteria. His favorite class was "Carnival Techniques," where he learned tricks such as eating fire, something he claims to do still on rare occasions.
After graduating in 1973, Greenfield failed twice to get into medical school. At this point, Greenfield decided to move back to New York where he shared an apartment with Cohen on East 10th Street and worked as a lab technician. In 1974, Greenfield tried another time to enter medical school, but when rejected, he decided to move to North Carolina with his future wife, Elizabeth Skarie, where he continued to work as a lab technician.
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