Two individuals with outstanding lifetime contributions to the meat business are set to be inducted into the Wisconsin Meat Industry Hall of Fame at a May 1 recognition ceremony. They include Bernard J. Peck, a Milwaukee philanthropist who headed one of the nation’s larger privately held meat processing companies, and Marion L. Greaser, a UW-Madison professor who taught and did pathfinding research on meat and muscle proteins.
For over forty years Bernard (“Bernie”) Peck, the fourth generation of the Peck Meat Packing Corporation, led their growth in Milwaukee’s Menomonee River Valley as one of America’s larger privately owned meat processors. He developed a pioneering technology that resulted in the renowned Emmber’s “Lean N’ Tender” product line for retail and foodservice channels in the U.S. Peck Meat Packing Corporation was sold in to Sara Lee in 1985 where Bernie continued as Executive Vice President and COO before retiring in 1987. Bernie has shared his success, as one of Milwaukee’s great philanthropists in providing leadership and numerous wonderful gifts and programs to civic and community organizations across religious, cultural, and geographic borders. The Wisconsin Meat Industry Hall of Fame is proud to induct Bernard J. Peck into its membership.