Grocery pioneer Kenneth Ruello dies at 86
Times Picayune  October 01, 2009


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Kenneth Ruello, an avid tennis player and a businessman who helped usher in the era of frozen
food in New Orleans, died Tuesday. He was 86.

A lifelong resident of New Orleans, Mr. Ruello in 1955 created the first frozen food
distributorship in the city in the days before freezers were commonplace, his family said. Two of
the company's largest customers were Maison Blanche's Snack Store and Solari's on Royal and
Iberville streets, the family said.

"He didn't just have a product he was selling; he also had to sell the concept, " said one of his
sons, Bruce Ruello, who later worked with his father in the business. "He was selling frozen food
at a time when very few people even had a real freezer -- everybody had iceboxes. That was always
a problem, I remember him saying."

Another son, Robert Ruello, said many times the stores would buy just a few individual packages
of frozen food -- as opposed to cases or truckloads as they do now -- because the stores had such
small display freezers.

Ruello and Associates handled some of the biggest names in the business, such as Sara Lee, Ore-
Ida and Welch's juices, Bruce Ruello said.

Mr. Ruello, who was a member of Metairie Country Club, also loved to play tennis, his family
said.

"He played tennis until he was 82, " Bruce Ruello said. "82!"

Mr. Ruello, who attended Warren Easton High School and Louisiana State University, served in the
Coast Guard during World War II. He was stationed in Philadelphia.

Mr. Ruello also was active in St. Pius X Parish and the Holy Name of Jesus Society, and he was a
former member of the Carnival krewes of Carrollton and Bacchus.

He is survived by his wife, Shirley Flick Ruello; a daughter, Penny Brown; and four sons, Bruce,
Charles, Robert and Jon Ruello.

Visitation will be at Lakelawn Cemetery on Friday from 10 a.m. until noon. A Mass will
immediately follow at Lakelawn.