19 Facts About Vincent Marotta

Vincent Marotta was the co-creator of Mr Coffee, one of the first automatic drip coffee makers to be introduced to the American consumer market.

Vincent Marotta, who was responsible for much of the company's marketing as chairman and CEO, recruited Joe DiMaggio to appear in a series of Mr Coffee television commercials.

In 1942, Vincent Marotta was signed as center fielder for the St Louis Cardinals.

However, Vincent Marotta enlisted in the US Army during World War II just before spring training and never played professionally for the Cardinals.

Vincent Marotta served in a domestic capacity during the war.

Vincent Marotta completed his bachelor's degree in history at Mount Union College, now called the University of Mount Union, in Alliance, Ohio.

Vincent Marotta returned to professional athletics in 1948, when he was drafted by both the Cleveland Browns of the now defunct All-America Football Conference and the New York Giants of the National Football League.

Vincent Marotta decided to play for the Cleveland Browns as a running back.

Vincent Marotta soon partnered with a friend, Samuel Glazer, a housing and mall developer, whom Marotta had known since high school.

Glazer and Vincent Marotta established North American Systems, with Vincent Marotta serving as the company's chairman and CEO from creation until the partners sold the company in 1987.

Vincent Marotta pondered an alternative to the real estate business due to the credit squeeze of 1968.

Vincent Marotta's thoughts turned to a new, potential household coffee maker.

Vincent Marotta created the prototype for his drip coffee machine, which would come to be called Mr Coffee.

Vincent Marotta spent approximately three years "searching for 'a mechanical means of controlling the time and temperature of the water' in a coffeemaker," according to his October 1979 interview with Forbes magazine.

Glazer and Vincent Marotta hired two former Westinghouse engineers, Edmund Abel and Erwin Schulze, to design a drip coffee machine for household use.

Glazer and Vincent Marotta headed Mr Coffee's parent company until 1987, when North American Systems was acquired by a securities firm in a leveraged buyout worth $82 million.

Vincent Marotta concentrated on philanthropic pursuits and real estate investing during his later life.

Vincent Marotta died at his home in Pepper Pike, Ohio, on August 1,2015, at the age of 91.

Vincent Marotta was survived by his wife, Ann Laughlin, whom he had married in 1954, and his six children: Mary Marotta, Jane Marotta, Susan Parente, Charles Marotta, Timothy Marotta Sr.