Francesco A. Gianninoto; Designed Now-Familiar Packaging

Francesco A. Gianninoto, 85, an industrial designer who created the Marlboro flip-top cigarette box, Elsie the Borden cow and the bright orange roofs on Howard Johnson restaurants. An Italian immigrant, Gianninoto specialized in packaging and numbered among his clients Dole pineapples, Lipton teas, Nestle candies and Wild Turkey whiskey. He began as a designer and then art and creative director for Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn before forming his own consulting firm in 1931. He retired in 1983 after helping found the Package Designers Council and the Industrial Designers Institute of America. In Danbury, Conn., on April 8.