Margaret Loreta Rudkin (née Fogarty; September 14, 1897 – June 1, 1967[1]) was an American businesswoman who founded Pepperidge Farm and was the first female member of the board at the Campbell Soup Company.

In 1919, she got a job at the investment company McClure Jones and Co., where she met her husband, Henry Rudkin, a Wall Street stock broker.

[3] Though she struggled in her early attempts, through trial and error she came up with a type of bread that tasted good.

She proudly showed the doctor her creation; he wrote a letter endorsing it and began to recommend the bread to his patients.

[10] One author notes that she at one point "had the distinction of being the only woman to speak at the Harvard School of Business Administration three different times.

The couple traveled to Europe in the 1950s, which in turn would inspire a number of products such as Milanos and Brussels cookies and Goldfish crackers.

[8][10] Rudkin is still considered to be a leader in many industries and her legacy lives on through Pepperidge Farm.

In 1929, Rudkin moved to a property named Pepperidge Farm in Fairfield, Connecticut.

[14] Her son Mark became a landscape architect known for working on famous gardens in France, such as the Jardins du Nouveau Monde.