Purina Forecaster Norman Coats Dies

Norman Coats, formerly Vice President for Economic and Marketing Research at pet food giant Ralston Purina (now Nestlé Purina), has died a week after being diagnosed with a form of blood cancer. He was 85.

Coats was born in Southern Indiana during the Great Depression, and was descended from a line of pioneers, including four who fought in the Revolutionary War. When he was 18, he enlisted in the army airforce to fight in World War II as a gunner in a B-17 'Flying Fortress'. After returning home, he graduated from Purdue University in 1950.

During his career, Coats worked for 35 years for Ralston Purina in St Louis, where as Head of the Economic and Marketing Research division he performed a combination of functions including business, price, supply, sales and profit forecasting; commodity analysis, marketing research and product and program evaluation. He retired in 1985 and for the next 25 years ran a private forecasting service.

He also carried out food distribution analysis for the Government, and in 1971 received an award for his work for the Office of Emergency Preparedness during the Cold War.

Aside from his work, he published three books about his experiences growing up during the Depression on a farm in Daisy Hill, Indiana.

He is survived by two sons, a daughter and eight grandchildren. His wife died in 2009.