Phillip Cooke, founder of the Foodservice Associates (FSA) marketing/management organization and a key figure in the founding of the Society for Foodservice Management (SFM), suffered a fatal heart attack while on a trip to Chicago October 24th.

Cooke's firm was formed to manage the National Industrial Cafeteria Managers Association (NICMA), one of the two organizations that merged to form SFM in 1979.

The other was the Association of Food Service Management (AFSM). Cooke had begun his career as a journalist with several industry trade publications before launching FSA in 1969. A decade later, when the merger took place, FSA managed the new combined organization, SFM, and later, a number of other prominent foodservice associations.

For a video of Cooke reminiscing about those early days, go to food-management.com/video/cooke_1027