Editing Ron Popeil (section)

==Personal life and career==
Popeil was born to a [[American Jews|Jewish]] family<ref name="18doors">[https://18doors.org/interfaith_celebrities_why_pink_is_a_mixed_bag/ Interfaith Families: "Interfaith Celebrities: Why Pink is a Mixed Bag"] By Nate Bloom. 2015</ref> in Manhattan in 1935, the son of Julia (née Schwartz) and Samuel Popeil.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P-4fAQAAIAAJ&q=Julia+Popeil+(Schwartz|title = But, Wait! There's More! ...The Irresistible Appeal and Spiel of Ronco and Popeil|isbn = 9780847824311|last1 = Samuelson|first1 = Timothy|year = 2002| publisher=Rizzoli}}</ref> When he was six, his parents divorced and he and his brother went to live in Florida with their grandparents. At age 17 in 1952, he went with his grandparents to work for his father at his company's (Popeil Brothers) manufacturing facility in Chicago. His grandparents later returned to Florida and Popeil remained with his father.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stern |first1=Remy |title=But Wait ... There's More! Tighten Your Abs, Make Millions, and Learn How the $100 Billion Infomercial Industry Sold Us Everything But the Kitchen Sink |date=2009 |isbn=9780061260551 |page=11 |publisher=HarperCollins |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780061260551}}</ref>

When he was 18, Popeil attended the [[University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign]] where he joined [[Alpha Epsilon Pi]] before withdrawing after six months.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://uiaa.org/2013/12/13/alumni-interview-ron-popeil/|title = University of Illinois Alumni|date = December 13, 2013}}</ref> 

After returning from college, Popeil continued to work and learn from his father, who was also an inventor and salesman of numerous kitchen-related gadgets, such as the Chop-O-Matic and the [[Veg-O-Matic]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Veg-O-Matic II |url=https://www.si.edu/object/nmah_323705 |access-date=2022-07-12 |website=Smithsonian Institution |language=en}}</ref> The Chop-O-Matic retailed for US$3.98 and sold over two million units.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Roper |first=Matt |date=2021-08-04 |title=Kitchen gadget 'O-Matic' genius, salesman of the century and cultural icon dies |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/ron-popeil-dead-kitchen-gadget-24690073 |access-date=2024-10-29 |website=The Mirror |language=en}}</ref>

The [[invention]] of the Chop-O-Matic caused a problem that marked the entrance of Ron Popeil into television. The Chop-O-Matic was so efficient at chopping vegetables that it was impractical for salesmen to carry all the vegetables needed for the demonstrations over the course of a day.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gladwell |first1=Malcolm |title=The Pitchman: Ron Popeil and the Conquest of the American Kitchen |url=https://pen.org/what-the-dog-saw-and-other-adventures/ |website=PEN America |access-date=March 8, 2023 |date=April 8, 2011}}</ref> The solution was to tape the demonstration. Once the demonstration was taped, it was a short step to [[broadcasting]] it as a [[Advertising|commercial]].

Popeil initially operated as a distributor of his father's kitchen products and later formed his own company, Ronco, in 1964. He continued as a distributor for his father and added additional products from other manufacturers.<ref>{{cite book|last=Mateja|first=Andrew|title=The Rise and Fall of the First Popeil Gadget Dynasty|location=[[Mustang, Oklahoma]]|publisher=[[Tate Publishing & Enterprises|Tate Publishing]]|year=2013|page=33}}</ref> Ron Popeil and his father became competitors in the 1970s for the same retail store business.{{cn|date=July 2021}}

Popeil received the [[Ig Nobel Prize]] in Consumer Engineering in 1993. The awards committee described him as the "incessant inventor and perpetual pitchman of late night television" and awarded the prize in recognition of his "redefining the industrial revolution" with his devices.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ig Nobel Prize Winners |url=https://www.improbable.com/ig/winners/#ig1993 |website=Improbable Research |access-date=1 August 2021 |date=1 August 2006}}</ref> He was a past member of the board of directors of [[Mirage Resorts]], where he served for 22 years under [[Steve Wynn]], as well as a past member of the board of directors of MGM Hotels for seven years under [[Kirk Kerkorian]].{{cn|date=August 2021}} He became the recipient of the Electronic Retail Association's Lifetime Achievement award in 2001<ref name="ERAaward">{{cite web|title=Lifetime Achievement Award|url=https://retailing.org/membership/awards/lifetime-achievement-award|website=retailing.org|publisher=Electronic Retailing Association|access-date=May 22, 2017|ref=ERAaward|language=en|archive-date=May 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180506040806/http://www.retailing.org/membership/awards/lifetime-achievement-award|url-status=dead}}</ref> and he is listed in the Direct Response Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Haire |first1=Thomas |title=Pearls of Wisdom |url=https://drtv.com/uploads/news/Pearls_of_Wisdom.pdf |access-date=December 15, 2021 |magazine=Response Magazine |publisher=[[Cannella (company)|Cannella Response Television LLC]] |date=April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802191107/https://drtv.com/uploads/news/Pearls_of_Wisdom.pdf |archive-date=2021-08-02}}</ref>

Popeil was previously{{when|date=November 2018}} a member of the advisory board for [[University of California, Los Angeles]]' Business, Management, and Legal Programs. In August 2005, he sold his company, Ronco, to Fi-Tek VII, a Denver [[holding company]], for US$55 million, with plans to continue serving as the spokesman and inventor while being able to spend more time with his family.{{cn|date=August 2021}}

In 1956, Popeil married Marilyn Greene, with whom he had two daughters; they divorced in 1963. He married Lisa Boehne some time after this and had one daughter with her. He and Boehne divorced sometime before 1995, when he married Robin Angers, with whom he had two more daughters. [[Ashley Tisdale]] and [[Jennifer Tisdale]] are his cousins.<ref name="18doors" />