John L. Stanton Jr., world-renowned professor of food marketing at St. Joseph’s, has died at 80
“He devoted more than 50 years to transforming how food is marketed and consumed,” said colleague Ron Margulis.
John L. Stanton Jr., 80, of Sewell, Gloucester County, world-renowned professor of food marketing at St. Joseph’s and Temple Universities, groundbreaking food researcher, innovative food company executive, prolific author, editor, public speaker, and mentor, died Monday, Aug. 4, his birthday, of a cardiac event at Inspira Medical Center Mullica Hill.
Dr. Stanton was an authority on global food marketing and celebrated as a researcher, writer, business leader, and teacher. He established food and health research centers at both Temple and St. Joseph’s, and introduced a new master’s program in food marketing, international study tours, and a student exchange program with University College Cork in Ireland at St. Joseph’s.
He wrote or cowrote nearly two dozen books on food marketing, consumer behavior, and product development, and 1991’s Making Niche Marketing Work: How to Grow Bigger by Acting Smaller was featured in the old BusinessWeek magazine book club.
He wrote a monthly column called “Market View” for Food Processing magazine for 16 years and was a founder and editor of the Journal of Food Products Marketing. More than 150 of his articles and scholarly papers appeared in food trade publications and elsewhere. He was especially proud, he told his wife, Carol, to have had a 1984 research paper published in the journal Science.
He worked two years as director of marketing research for Weightman Advertising in the 1980s and two years as vice president of marketing for Melitta North America in the 1990s. For decades, he served on boards and advised top executives on all kinds of marketing issues at Campbell’s, Procter & Gamble, Frito-Lay, Kellogg’s, and other international food companies.
“He devoted more than 50 years to transforming how food is marketed and consumed,” Ron Margulis, owner of RAM Communications, said in an online tribute. “John’s life and career embody the highest ideals in food marketing: innovation, passion, scholarship, and a profound commitment to serving consumers and the industry alike.”
Dr. Stanton spent 40 years, beginning in 1985, at St. Joseph’s and 11 years, from 1973 to 1984, at Temple. He was a visiting professor in Brazil in the 1970s and senior Fulbright lecturer in Tanzania in the 1980s. Before Temple, he worked in marketing at Syracuse University and the State University of New York in Syracuse.
At St. Joseph’s, he was the school’s first endowed chair in food marketing research and served two terms as head of the Department of Food Marketing. At Temple, he was chair of the Marketing Department and founder and director of its Institute of Research in Food Consumption and Nutrition.
Former students praised his “intellectual curiosity” and “lively nature,” and said his classes were “challenging and thought provoking.” One former student said: “Learning from him was meaningful and intentional.”
In a tribute, colleagues at St. Joseph’s said Dr. Stanton “never lost his trademark wit, his unwavering dedication to his students, or his relentless passion for research.” Other colleagues called him a “true legend” and an “industry icon.”
Affable and articulate, Dr. Stanton explained marketing strategy on national TV shows and at business and academic conferences. He wrote op-ed articles, was quoted often in The Inquirer and other outlets, and hosted an episode of the History Channel series Modern Marvels called “The History of the Supermarket.”
He earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Promotion Optimization Institute and was inducted into Halls of Fame by the European Retail Institute and the Private Label Manufacturers Association.
“Dr. Stanton was a visionary in food marketing whose global influence was matched only by his passion for students and his gigantic sense of humor,” Matthew Kelly, associate dean at St. Joseph’s Erivan K. Haub School of Business, said in a tribute. “He brought brilliance, warmth, and wit to everything he did.”
John Leighton Stanton Jr. was born Aug. 4, 1945, in Collingswood. He played on the golf team at Collingswood High School and graduated in 1963.
He considered life as a forest ranger and earned a bachelor’s degree in forestry engineering at the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse in 1968. Instead, he earned a doctorate in quantitative methods and marketing at Syracuse University in 1973.
He married Jan Barrett, and they had a daughter, Bridget, and a son, Robert. After a divorce, he met Carol Neville at St. Joseph’s, and they married in a sunset ceremony in 1995.
Dr. Stanton and his wife lived in Clearwater, Fla., and Sewell, and they traveled the world together. He was outgoing and funny, everybody said, and liked to fish and play golf. She edited his books.
“He was down to earth and approachable,” his wife said. “He was so well-rounded. He was absolutely awesome.”
Joseph A. DiAngelo, dean of the Haub School of Business, said in a tribute: “His passion for teaching, boundless energy, and unmistakable humor made him one of a kind.”
In addition to his wife and children, Dr. Stanton is survived by six grandchildren, his former wife, and other relatives. A brother died earlier.
A memorial service is to be held later.
Donations in his name may be made to the John L. Stanton Scholarship Fund for the Academy of Food Marketing at St. Joseph’s University, 5600 City Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19131.