John then fought off not only a buyout effort from a New York group to join it with their flour milling trust and then saved it from receivership in 1909.
During a trip to Sicily, Italy and France, John learned a method for milling semolina flour which is made from durum wheat and used as a principal ingredient for making macaroni.
He married Eleanor Jerusha Lawler[11] (b. August 31, 1887) on December 5, 1911, and they had six children of which Edmund and Charles died early in life.
[12] The survivors were his namesake John S. Pillsbury Jr.,[13][14] his son George and two daughters Mrs. Thomas M. Crosby, Orono, Minnesota, and Mrs. Stanley R. Resor, Washington, D.C.
His funeral was held at Plymouth Congregation Church and burial was at Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota.