PETALUMA, CALIF. — The American Society of Baking has named four individuals as its 2009 honorees for the Baking Hall of Fame: Dale LeCrone, Louis G. Kuchuris, Dora Schwebel and Dr. Louys Rumsey. The four baking industry leaders will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in a ceremony on March 2 during the A.S.B.’s BakingTech 2009 annual technical conference in Chicago.

Each year, the A.S.B. honors individuals who have been leaders in the baking industry and have demonstrated industry innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. Many of the individuals selected into the Hall of Fame are recognized for their achievements in organizational growth and development, equipment design and innovation, advancements in ingredient technology and processing or related service to the commercial baking industry.

Nominations for the Hall of Fame are made by A.S.B. members and non-members. The Baking Hall of Fame committee is comprised of 10 individuals who evaluate each of the nominees.

The inductees for 2009 include:

• Dale LeCrone. Mr. LeCrone founded LeMatic, Inc., a producer of bakery slicing and bagging equipment, in 1971. Earlier, he got his start in the baking industry in the 1950s working in a machine shop used by Capital Bakers in York, Pa. He holds 14 patents for bakery machinery, and his company manufactures machinery in daily use at many food processing companies around the world.

• Louis Kuchuris. In 1955, Mr. Kuchuris, a local Chicago baker, founded East Balt Commissary to supply buns for the first-ever McDonald’s franchise. The hand-shake agreement between Mr. Kuchuris and McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc still stands. Over time, the company expanded to 19 bakeries worldwide, with business centered in the United States, Europe and Asia.

• Louys Rumsey, Ph.D. After working for the W.E. Long Independent bakers Cooperative for 20 years, Dr. Rumsey began the Baking Science and Management program at Florida State University at Tallahassee in 1951. He headed the BS&T program until it was relocated to Kansas State University at Manhattan. He was affiliated with the American Baking Institute and the American Bakers Association. Dr. Rumsey retired from F.S.U. in 1959 and passed away in May 1960 at the age of 71.

• Dora Schwebel. In 1906, Dora and Joseph Schwebel formed Schwebel Baking Co., working out of the family kitchen at Campbell, Ohio. Steady growth through the years has enabled Schwebel’s to thrive. Still family owned and operated, the bakery serves customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.

For more information about the A.S.B.’s Baking Hall of Fame, visit its web site at www.asbe.org.

To nominate an individual for 2010, visit www.asbe.org/HallFame.html

Other members of the Baking Hall of Fame include: Betty & Dean Arnold; Ninnie Baird; Thomas Belshaw; Russell T. Bundy; Catherine Clark; William Entenmann; Al Fleischmann; William & Joseph Flowers; Dr. William Hoover; Miles, Steve & Ron Jones; William Edgar Long; Charles Lubin; Victor Marx; Charles Matthaei; Charles T. Meyer; Roy Nafziger; John Paterakis; C.J. Patterson; Ernst Pyler; Otto Rohwedder; Margaret Rudkin; Lorenzo & Roberto Servitje; Morton Sosland; Harold Stewart; Ray Thelen; and Samuel B. Thomas.