John Richard Simplot (; January 4, 1909 – May 25, 2008) was an American entrepreneur and businessman best known as the founder of the J. R. Simplot Company, a Boise, Idaho-based agricultural supplier specializing in potato products. In 2007, he was estimated to be the 89th-richest person in the United States, at $3.6 billion. At the time of his death at age 99 in May 2008, he was the oldest billionaire on the Forbes 400. Early life Born in Dubuque, Iowa, he was the third of six children of Charles R. and Dorothy (Haxby) Simplot. His maternal grandmother was English, as were both parents of both his maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother. His paternal great-grandparents were both French. A year later in 1910, the family relocated a thousand miles (1,600 km) west to homestead in the newly irrigated Magic Valley of south central Idaho; the Minidoka Dam on the Snake River was completed a few years earlier. After differences with his father, Simplot left school in the eighth grade at age 14 in 1923. He then worked on a farm near Declo, Cassia County, Idaho. He developed a low-cost method for feeding hogs when the market fell, feeding wild horse meat and potatoes to his hogs. When the market recovered he sold at a profit and got into the potato and vegetable processing business. J. R. Simplot Company By World War II, the J. R. Simplot Company had become the largest shipper of fresh potatoes in the nation. In 1967, Simplot and McDonald's founder Ray Kroc agreed by handshake that the Simplot Company would provide frozen french fries to the restaurant chain. Previously, restaurants had cut potatoes at each location for fresh french fries, but the favored russet potato was not available for three months in the summer, leading to a quality control problem. Simplot was able to supply frozen russet potatoes all year long. By 1972, all fries were frozen. The frozen fry deal led to expansion of Simplot potato processing plants and construction in 1977 of a new plant at Hermiston, Oregon. By 2005, Simplot supplied more than half of all french fries for the fast food chain. Simplot also produces fertilizers for agriculture. Simplot retired as president of his company in 1973, but remained as chairman until 1994. He held the title of chairman emeritus until his death in 2008. Simplot received an honorary degree from Utah