American author and educator Ann Turner Cook is best known as the face of Gerber Infant, a popular line of baby food products manufactured by the Gerber Products Corporation.
Ann Leslie Turner was born in Westport, Connecticut, to Leslie Turner, a syndicated cartoonist who produced the comic strip Captain Easy for decades.
Dorothy Hope Smith, the family’s neighbor and an artist, created a charcoal drawing of Ann as an infant.
When Gerber announced in 1928 that it was seeking infant images for its forthcoming line of baby food, Smith’s artwork was submitted and ultimately selected.
The mark was registered in 1931. Since then, Ann Turner Cook’s illustration has been featured on practically all Gerber baby food packaging.
Before 1978, Cook’s identity was kept a secret. Cook was a guest on To Tell the Truth in a one-on-one episode in 1990.
Her family relocated to Orlando, Florida, during her adolescence.
She earned a bachelor’s in English from Southern Methodist University and a master’s in English education from the University of South Florida. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority.
Oak Hill Elementary School in Florida and Madison Junior High School in Tampa, Florida were Cook’s first and second teaching jobs, respectively.
As a high school English teacher in Tampa, Hillsborough High School, she rose to the position of chairwoman of the English department in 1966.
How did Ann Turner Cook Die?
Ann cook died of natural causes on June 3, 2022, at the age of 95, at her home in St. Petersburg, Florida.
