During World War II, he invented the first non-dairy whipped topping made from soybeans that could be frozen.
His son, Robert Jr., inherited the company and is the owner of the Buffalo Bisons minor league baseball team.
He was also a member of Alpha Kappa Psi and Bisonhead, an all-male secret society on campus.
The success of his cream substitute brought a series of lawsuits from the dairy industry in an effort to stop distribution of his product.
[13] The company's CoffeeRich product, marketed with a series of national ads featuring George Burns, did well: "its sales soared, particularly among Jews who kept kosher and were forbidden to put cream in their coffee while eating meat."