Frank Gerber's father, Joseph, owned a canning business in northern Michigan known as the Fremont Canning Company.

In 1901, Gerber joined the company, which he eventually took over.

In 1928, Frank and his wife had a daughter named Sally. Sally Gerber was not a healthy baby, and her doctor told the Gerbers to serve the child a diet of fruits and vegetables. So Gerber and his son, Dan, applied a process used to make tomato puree to produce strained fruit.

Word of the baby food spread throughout Freemont, where it became very popular with mothers. What made the baby food so successful, though, was the marketing.

While most commercially available baby foods at the time sold for 35 cents, Gerber's baby food sold for only 15 cents. He then advertised the product with an offer of free samples, which mothers snapped up.

The move convinced grocers to carry the product, and soon the cannery was devoted entirely to Gerber baby food. The company name was then changed to Gerber Products Company.

Gerber's hometown. Freemont, Michigan, is home to an annual baby food festival.