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Obituaries

Stephen Bernard | Snack-food innovator, 61

Stephen Bernard, 61, founder of the Cape Cod Potato Chips company and two other snack-food brands, died Saturday at a hospital in Barnstable, Mass., after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

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Stephen Bernard, 61, founder of the Cape Cod Potato Chips company and two other snack-food brands, died Saturday at a hospital in Barnstable, Mass., after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Mr. Bernard and his wife, Lynn, founded Cape Cod Potato Chips in 1980 as an offshoot of their health-food store despite having almost no knowledge of the snack-food industry. After a shaky start, the kettle-cooked chips took off and eventually got national distribution.

Mr. Bernard sold the company to Anheuser-Busch in 1985 but reacquired it when the brewer sold its Eagle Snacks division. Lance Inc. bought the company in 1999.

Mr. Bernard started Chatham Village Foods gourmet croutons in 1990 and sold it to Lancaster Colony Corp. in 1997.

Mr. Bernard, a Concord, N.H., native, graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1969 with a degree in economics.

- AP

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