Robert Vlasic served in the Navy during World War II, then attended the University of Michigan, earning a degree in industrial and mechanical engineering in 1949.

During the 1940s the company had expanded into fruits and vegetables, including pickles in glass jars.

Vlasic got the company to move beyond distribution into production, making and selling sauerkraut and a wide variety of pickles.

He attracted public attention with light-hearted, whimsical commercials, saying that "pickles should be a fun food."

[3] In 1950, he married Nancy Reuter; they lived in Grosse Pointe Shores and later in Bloomfield Hills, where Vlasic died in 2022.