Gene Cohen was born in 1941 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. At the age of 8 he moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin - where he spent his childhood.

His father was a hard working Russian immigrant. He and his brothers had made a living selling produce to groceries and restaurants. They were in business for 54 years and retired in 1976..

Fond du Lac was everything a small town should be. It had midwest values. It was a Huck Finn existence. The main street was a scene out of Courier & Ives. Barber, baker, and candlestick maker all existed on Main Street. Small town merchants were everywhere and he played and shopped locally in that small town.

Near his home was a small fishing creek. In Denevue Creek he and his friends netted "shiners". Another popular diversion was watching cars whiz by. In 1957 all cars had radical fins and they all had a totally different look. They would sit on the curb for hours watching those new cars pass and guessing the model and year.

The community he grew up in was catholic. Most residents had come from Germany and Scandanavia. Many tradition European values existed. For example, there was the neighborhood park nearby. Everybody ice skated the winter evenings away. A loudspeaker played Strauss waltzes. A warming shack and a bonfire were normal and filled with frolicking friends. Fond du Lac was surrounded by farming communities. The values were rural and small-town 1950 Americana.

In 1963, Gene Cohen graduated the University of Wisconsin in Madison with a Bachelor of Science degree. In his senior year he married Judy. She was born and raised in Los Angeles. In 1964 he attended the University of Washington as a graduate student, taking courses in Engineering . He left the University to work in Seattle and never left the western United States.

In 1967, he was hired by Charles Pfizer & Company to sell pharmaceuticals to doctors. - commonly known as a "detail man" In1969 he left Pfizer to start his own company, Adco Bit Company Inc. Adco manufactured of a newly patented downhole percussion rock drill bit.

In 1972, that company was sold to a conglomerate in Oklahoma. He went on to purchase fiberglass boat molds. For the next ten years, Gene owned Nautical Manufacturing Company, a builder of fiberglass boats and industrial plastic parts. In 1974 his firm started using fiberglass and epoxy to restore Government fuel tanks. It was during the petrochemical crises of 1974. For the next 6 years he did specialty government contracting on 40 different military bases worldwide. He sent teams into fuel farms and they used various plastic applications to restore fuel tanks.

In 1980, Gene purchased Triangle Nut Company from the founder and 28 year owner, Herman Schwartz. His family background in produce was an excellent fit for him, since nuts are a part of the fruit family of foods.

For the next 28 years he has owned and successfully managed this company. The company has expanded the product line from the original 15 items to over 450 products. It has added an incredible number of customers from the original 100 existing firms. Besides the wholesale customers, he diversified the business into importing, manufacturing, wholesaling, retailing, and mail order - 5 businesses wrapped into one.

The Nut Factory name was originally used in the mid 1980's to identify the company's factory store. It more closely represented the product line the company was best known for - nuts! Premier Packing Company had replaced Triangle Nut Company as the corporate name in 1988. In more recent years, the company is has adopted The Nut Factory as its corporate name.

In 1998 The Nut Factory built a new production plant. Gene Cohen had owned acreage along Interstate 90 in Spokane, Washington. They built a new modern plant and included a factory store. That allows visits from the many friends and tourists who loved our products. The store is extremely popular. The company continues it's core business - to delivery a wide assortment of exceptional products to businesses everywhere.

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