Eugene businesswoman Sue Kesey has died.

Sue Kesey and her husband Chuck opened Springfield Creamery right out of college in 1960, supplying milk for home delivery and schools.

Ten years later, the couple introduced live probiotics to its yogurt, the first U.S. company to do so. “Nancy’s Yogurt” was a hit, and the creamery expanded.

But with growth came expenses that threatened to close the business, so Kesey helped orchestrate a Grateful Dead benefit concert to serve as a fundraiser.

She described it to KLCC 50 years later, in 2022:

“We’ve always been grateful ... for this kind gesture on their part to do this. They did it for their friends. I mean, this was friend related. I think one of the words they used, well this was for family, we do it for family.”

A press release from the

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