Ann Turner Cook has died at the age of 95
It has been reported that the original Gerber baby, Ann Turner Cook, has died. She had reached the age of ninety-five.
In a Instagram post on Friday, Gerber confirmed Cook’s death to the world.
For years, “Many years before becoming an extraordinary mother, teacher and writer, her smile and expressive curiosity captured hearts everywhere and will continue to live on as a symbol for all babies,”
The artist Dorothy Hope Smith made a charcoal portrait of Cook when she was 5 months old and submitted it to a contest held by Gerber for the purposes of a nationwide marketing campaign for baby food.
Even before it became a trademark in 1931, the image had a huge impact on the company’s success.
For decades, the baby’s identity remained a mystery, leading to theories that included Humphrey Bogart and Elizabeth Taylor as possible candidates.
As it turned out in the late 1970s, it was Cook, a Florida native who became an English teacher before going on to write thrillers.
