Self-proclaimed “King of the Pocket Pie,” Jonathan Horn, died Wednesday at the Grub Street V.A. hospital. He was 93.
Although Horn often told stories about “riding the rails” as a young teenager, he actually remained in school and by all accounts was a very good student until age 17, when he joined the navy. A man of diminutive stature, he aspired to be a gunner but was repeatedly assigned kitchen patrol. He took to the work and by the time the second world war broke out he had become Ship’s Cook and developed a reputation among officers as an excellent baker. Particular prized was his Christmas pie. Horn often said it was his Christmas pie that landed him a plum position as personal chef to Admiral Nimitz, a job he held until he left the navy in 1958.
Horn returned to civilian life in his hometown and opened “The Corner Bakery,” famous for its pies, especially their Christmas pie, which people would begin pre-ordering each year the day after Thanksgiving. The business expanded, opening additional locations, all of which Horn insisted be located on a corner. He also started wholesale operations and eventually started manufacturing packaged foods for grocery, institutional, and vending distribution.
It was here that Horn truly made his mark when he developed the pocket pie, a single serving of pie that you could eat, as early packaging proclaimed, “with your hands.” The product was successful but when the fast-food giant, McDougal’s, started serving the pies, Horn became a truly rich man. Today, Horn’s Pocket Pies can be found in grocery stores, convenience stores, vending machine, and of course, McDougal’s locations across the country.
Late in life, when he was asked for the secret to his success, Horn would often reply, “Good things happen to good people.”
Jonathan Horn 1921-2014 (Photo 1940)
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