....................480 Adams Street, Suite #208, Milton Massachusetts, USA • 617.696.7758
 
 
 
 

Donald W. White, Sr.

Donald W. White Sr., 80, of Scituate, died at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth on Sept. 1, after a battle with pneumonia.

He was the retired co-owner, senior vice president and director of Hendrie’s Ice Cream Inc. and co-owner of New England Frozen Foods.

Son of the late Esther M. (Kelley) White and Alan R. White, he was born in Boston and lived in Milton before moving to Scituate in 1954.

Mr. White attended and graduated from Milton Academy, Babson College and Cornell University. He served as a first lieutenant in the Air Force during the Korean War.

In 1954, he joined White Brothers Milk Co., of Quincy, a family-owned business since 1913 that was co-founded by his late father, along with his two brothers, Robert G. White and the late Allan R. White Jr., both of Milton. The company was the first to pasteurize milk in New England and regularly collected milk from more than 800 dairy farms in Vermont and New Hampshire. Mr. White was known for decades as the only living New England trademark as the 11-month-old baby pictured on milk bottles and horse-drawn (later motor-driven) carriages and delivery trucks.

He later joined his brothers in buying and expanding Hendrie’s Ice Cream, Inc., in 1961 and New England Frozen Foods, of Southborough, in 1966, making them the largest purveyor of frozen foods in New England while acquiring seven other competing ice cream companies in the process. During that time, he developed the Hendrie’s brand-name frozen single stick novelty items. The company was one of the first to create and introduce all natural ice cream products. His proudest achievement was working with his brothers in those successes for more than 50 years.

Mr. White was a former Dana-Farber Cancer Institute trustee and representative of the Jimmy Fund. He was co-founder and chairman of the Boston Dairy and Ice Cream multi-day festival known as the “Scooper Bowl,” which raises funds annually for the Jimmy Fund. He was a corporate member and trustee of Babson College, director of Cornell University’s PEM program advisory council and was visiting guest faculty there, as well as at Purdue University’s agricultural marketing program.

Mr. White was an honorary member of the Scituate Harbor Yacht Club, Scituate Country Club, Scituate Rod and Gun Club, New England Corinthians, Scituate Knights of Columbus, the American Legion and member of the Scituate Etrusco Association, Ducks Unlimited and of St. Mary’s parish in Scituate.

He had a lifelong fascination of 1775 to 1815 naval maritime history and also enjoyed world travel, western bronze sculpture collecting, classical music, photography, sailing, hunting, skiing and tennis.

He is survived by his wife, Pauline (Gladu) White; his brother, Robert G. White, of Milton; his sister, Audree Parr, of Erie, Pa; his children, Cynthia White, of Scituate, Donald W. White Jr. and his wife, Judy Olsen White, of Marshfield Hills, Bradford D. White and his wife, Julie-Anne (Miner) White, also of Marshfield Hills, Dominic A. White and his wife, Jondi (Poe) White, of Portland, Maine, Donald A. White and his wife, Pamela (Carron) White, of Summit, N.J., and Adam White, of Weymouth; his grandchildren, Olivia Olsen White and Trevor Donald White, both of Marshfield Hills, and Holden White and Cooper White, both of Summit, N.J.; and cousins, nieces and nephews.

Mr. White was the husband of the late Elaine Knapp White.

A Mass of Christian burial was celebrated in St. Mary’s of the Nativity Church, Scituate, on Sept. 10. Burial was in the New St. Mary’s Cemetery, Scituate.

Donations may be made to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Contribution Services, 10 Brookline Place West, 6th floor, Brookline, MA 02445-7226 or the Scituate Historical Society, P.O. Box 276, Scituate MA 02066.
 
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