Eduard Haas III (1897–1989) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n businessman. In 1927, Mr. Haas developed the

Pez Pez (, ; stylised as PEZ) is the brand name of an Austrian candy and associated manual candy dispensers. The candy is a pressed, dry, straight-edged, curved-corner block 15 mm ( inch) long, 8 mm ( inch) wide and 5 mm ...

confectionery.

Biography

Haas was born at

Leonding Leonding () is a city southwest of Linz in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. It borders Puchenau and the river Danube in the north, Wilhering and Pasching in the west, Traun in the south and Linz in the east. With a population of more than ...

near

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

bindermichl.home.pages.at
into a rich family. His grandfather was a doctor and his father Eduard Haas II owned a flourishing grocery store. As an adolescent, Haas patented a light

baking powder Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent, a mixture of a carbonate or bicarbonate and a weak acid. The base and acid are prevented from reacting prematurely by the inclusion of a buffer such as cornstarch. Baking powder is used to increas ...

mixture for

Gugelhupf A Gugelhupf (also ''Kugelhupf'', ''Guglhupf'', ''Gugelhopf'', and, in France, ''kouglof'', ''kougelhof'', or ''kougelhopf'') is a cake traditionally baked in a distinctive ring pan, similar to Bundt cake, but leavened with baker's yeast. Th ...

cakes, developed after a recipe left by his grandfather. The small "Hasin" powder bags soon were sold all over the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. In the 1920s, Haas began to purchase

peppermint oil Peppermint extract is an herbal extract of peppermint (''Mentha × piperita'') made from the essential oils of peppermint leaves. Peppermint is a hybrid of water mint and spearmint and was indigenous to Europe and the Middle East before it became c ...

from a chemist, and with it, he created in 1927 the small, flat, minty candy known as

(the name was coined from "Pfefferminz", the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

word for peppermint). Pez gradually gained popularity as an anti-smoking mint; however, Haas decided to broaden the appeal of Pez. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Haas and colleagues developed small dispensers shaped like lighters; the Pez dispenser debuted in 1947. In 1952, Haas shifted his base to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

where he developed a fresh marketing scheme aimed at children. The new Pez featured varying dispensers with popular figures as "flaps" and colored mints. To this day, Pez dispensers are sought out as collectors items.

Death

He died in Vienna, Austria in 1989.

Sources

Edward Haas at the Inventor of the Week ArchiveCompany history at haas-austria.at

References

1897 births Businesspeople in confectionery 1989 deaths {{Austria-business-bio-stub