Curtis Allina: Pez Dispenser Creator Dies

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Curtis Allina, who brought us the modern Pez dispenser, has died at his Washington State home at age 87 due to heart failure. A concentration camp survivor, Curtis Allina emigrated to the United States, where he ended up working for Pez-Haas. Curtis Allina would later run Pez; at the time, Pez was marketed to adults as a smoking alternative.

Pez was packaged in a small, narrow tin called the "regular". Curtis Allina made the decision to character heads on the candy dispensers, thus reinventing how candy was sold. (Whether or not Vurtis Allina himself came up the idea is debated, but it was definitely his decision to change the packaging to the Pez dispenser we know and love) The package itself became the product, and Pez has grown in to a global phenomenon with legions of Pez collectors. 

I remember having Pez dispensers as a small child, though I tended to decapitate them pretty quickly.