John M. Fox, 90; One of the Founders of Minute Maid Corp.

John M. Fox, 90, a founder and president of the Minute Maid Corp., which developed and popularized frozen orange juice concentrate more than half a century ago, died Jan. 9 in Winter Park, Fla., of unspecified causes.

Born in Esher, England, Fox immigrated to the United States with his parents when he was 2 years old, grew up in Atlantic City, N.J., and graduated from Colgate University. He worked with IBM and then a Boston product research organization, National Research Corp.

At National, he helped develop a vacuum technique for dehydrating substances, which was used during World War II to dehydrate penicillin and food for the military.

After the war, Fox and four others established Florida Foods Inc., which made the first commercial batch of frozen orange juice concentrate. Originally, they reduced the orange juice to a soluble powder, but they switched to concentrated liquid to improve the product’s taste.

The company changed its name to Minute Maid Corp. in 1947, and was sold to Coca-Cola in 1960.

Fox went on to become president and chairman of United Fruit Co. from 1960 to 1970 and of H.P. Hood dairy products company from 1970 until his retirement in 1978.

At United Fruit, he improved the shipping of bananas by having them removed from the stem and packed in cardboard boxes to reduce bruising. He also popularized the Chiquita brand name by putting stickers directly on the bananas.