Bill Harmsen, 89; Jolly Rancher Candy Firm’s Founder

Bill Harmsen, 89, who with his wife started the Jolly Rancher Candy Co., died of prostate cancer Wednesday in Wheat Ridge, Colo.

Jolly Ranchers, the hard candies in flavors such as cinnamon and watermelon that are sold around the world, were created by Harmsen and his wife, Dorothy, on the family farm in Golden, Colo.

Harmsen was a retired Continental Airlines pilot when he opened an ice cream shop in Golden in 1949 and concocted the candy to keep money coming in during the winter months.

The candy factory, housed in a deep-red barn, became a popular tourist attraction, drawing 2 million visitors a year.

The company was sold to Beatrice Foods Co. in 1967, and Harmsen stayed on as president until 1977.

The company is now owned by Hershey Foods Corp., which bought it in 1997 and recently announced that it would close the Jolly Rancher factory and shift production to Pennsylvania.

Harmsen and his wife were avid Western art collectors. Last year, they donated their 3,500-piece collection, which includes notable paintings by such artists as George Catlin and Georgia O’Keeffe, to the Denver Art Museum.