The family of Chuck Kesey, co-founder of Springfield Creamery and co-creator of Nancy’s Probiotic Foods, announces his passing at home in Eugene, Oregon today, surrounded by his family. He was 87.
A scientist, storyteller, and dreamer, Chuck helped launch the natural foods movement more than six decades ago. Guided by curiosity, compassion, and an open mind, he and his wife, Sue, built Springfield Creamery into a beloved family business that would help transform the way Americans think about food.
Born in La Junta, Colorado, to Fred and Geneva Kesey, Chuck moved to Springfield, Oregon, as a child, where his father managed the Eugene Farmers Creamery. He and his brother, Ken Kesey, grew up amid the scent of fresh milk, learning both the art of hard work and the joy of imagination. Those influences of science and wonder would shape Chuck’s life forever.
At Oregon State University in the late 1950s, Chuck studied Dairy Science, where he became fascinated with beneficial bacteria—a radical idea at the time. There, on a blind date, he met Susan Jameson, a bright, beautiful classmate studying Business. They married soon after graduation in 1960 and, with a $150-a-month lease and boundless optimism, they opened Springfield Creamery in Springfield, Oregon.
The early years were humble: Chuck, Sue, some friends and a milk truck, bottling glass jugs for local schools and homes. But the two were partners in every sense—Sue the organizer and strategist, Chuck the inventive “mad scientist” with a wide, warm grin who was always trying something new. Together, they built not just a business, but a movement based in integrity, innovation, and family. They traveled through life and business together, always side by side. Chuck was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Sue, his partner of nearly 65 years, who passed away in August 2025.
In 1970, Chuck’s curiosity and scientific mind led to a breakthrough that would change the food industry. Perfecting a recipe with the creamery’s bookkeeper, Nancy Van Brasch Hamren, who had yogurt-making experience, he added L. acidophilus to honey-sweetened yogurt, creating the first commercial yogurt in the United States to contain live probiotics. Nancy’s Yogurt was born, and so was the modern probiotic foods category.
When financial hardship struck the family business in 1972, Chuck’s creativity extended far beyond the lab. Drawing on the countercultural network of his brother Ken and the Merry Pranksters, he reached out to the Grateful Dead, who played a legendary benefit concert in Veneta, Oregon. The funds raised at the concert saved the Creamery, and the concert became an enduring part of Oregon lore. The company’s survival was a perfect blend of science and serendipity.
Over the decades, Chuck remained the Creamery’s unofficial “Keeper of the Culture.” He personally taste-tested each batch of yogurt for over 50 years, refusing to rely solely on pH meters. He delighted in sharing his latest finds—rocks, mushrooms, flowers, and other artifacts—with his friends far and wide, and especially with employees at the Creamery. His interests were wide-ranging, from galaxies to art to the wildlife that wandered his property. Chuck loved to ponder all that came before him, and his curiosity was contagious.
“Our Dad never stopped exploring— his mind was interested in so many pieces of life,” said his daughter, co-owner of Springfield Creamery, Sheryl Kesey Thompson. “He believed that real, healthy food could make people’s lives better. That was his true calling, and I think that is what he was most pleased to have had an impact on. He would often remind us, ‘We are not making breakfast. We are making health food, and we are saving lives here.’”
Together, Chuck and Sue led Springfield Creamery for more than six decades, nurturing a company that remains independent and family-owned, now run by their son and daughter, Kit Kesey and Sheryl Kesey Thompson, as well as the third generation, Taylor, Blake, and Grant Thompson. Today, Nancy’s Probiotic Foods continues to make organic and natural cultured products that carry forward their legacy of authenticity and care.
A lifelong believer in learning and discovery, Chuck often said that his greatest satisfaction came from “feeding generations of people good, healthy food.” To honor that passion, remembrances can be made to the Chuck and Sue Kesey Endowed Scholarship at Oregon State University’s Department of Food Science & Technology, supporting the next generation of food innovators and fermentation scientists.
“His legacy isn’t just in every cup of yogurt,” said his son, Kit Kesey. “It’s in the culture of curiosity, kindness, and the commitment of doing things the right way, even if you have to strap it together. He created that culture and instilled it in all of us.”
Plans for a memorial service to celebrate Chuck Kesey’s life will be announced at a later date.
To make a gift to the Chuck and Sue Kesey Endowed Scholarship at Oregon State University’s Department of Food Science and Technology, mail to:
OSU Foundation
4238 SW Research Way
Corvallis, OR 97333.
Or give online at give.fororegonstate.org/PL1Uv3Fkug. Note “Kesey” in the special instructions box.
Be the first to comment