Lit candles. File photoWASHINGTON, Jun 6The woman who became the face of Gerber baby food has died at the age of 95, the Gerber Products Company said. «Gerber is deeply saddened by the passing of Ann Turner Cook,» the company said in a statement. which is quoted by NBC News. The company noted that Cook was a teacher and a writer. According to a report on the Gerber website, the company held a competition in 1928 to «find a face for an advertising campaign for baby food.» Artist Dorothy Hope Smith submitted a simple charcoal sketch and noted that she would complete it if she won. As a result, it was the sketch (it showed Cook) that won the competition, and Gerber insisted that the illustration remain a sketch. The illustration became so popular that in 1931 Gerber adopted it as an official trademark. It is noted that the identity of the child depicted in the picture was «kept secret» for 40 years, until 1978. In the United States, the movie stars Humphrey Bogart and Elizabeth Taylor, then Senator Bob Dole and others were recognized on the sketch, but in reality the baby was Ann Turner Cook.
