Haagen-Dazs co-founder dies

Rose Mattus, an ice-cream entrepreneur who founded the Haagen-Dazs brand with her late husband, died last week in New Jersey at age 90.

Born in Poland to Jewish parents, Mattus immigrated with her family to Brooklyn in 1921. She and her husband, Ruben, a Polish Jew, met in New York in the 1930s and created Haagen- Dazs. They sold the company in the 1980s for $70 million.

Despite being a diabetic, Mattus enjoyed her product, especially vanilla, her daughter said. "If it was anywhere in sight, she would sneak it," Doris Mattus Hurley told reporters. "She'd have her spoon in there. My dad was always yelling, 'Rose, get out of the ice cream!' But she lived to be 90, so I guess it didn't do her too much harm." — jta