Tootsie Roll Industries CEO dies at 95

CHICAGO (AP) — The CEO of Tootsie Roll Industries has died at age 95.

Company spokeswoman Brooke Prewitt Vane says Melvin Gordon died Tuesday in Boston after a brief illness.

Gordon ran the Chicago-based company for 53 years. It makes 64 million Tootsie Rolls a day and other favorites including Junior Mints, Charleston Chews and Tootsie Pops.

Gordon celebrated the Tootsie Roll's 100th anniversary in 1996 by touring the Chicago factory with an Associated Press reporter. He scooped up one of the warm candies from the assembly line and tasted it, saying: "There's nothing like a hot Tootsie Roll."

Gordon's wife of 65 years, Ellen Gordon, has been named CEO. She was company president and chief operating officer.

She says her husband represented "the very highest values in business, wisdom, generosity and integrity."