Life just got a little less spicy. Nello Ferrara, whose candy company came up with such mouth-burning sweets as Red Hots and Fire Balls, as well as the mouth-watering Lemonheads and Boston Baked Beans, died last week at home in the Chicago suburb of River Forest. He was 93. His company, Ferrara Pan Candy Co, was founded in 1908 by his immigrant father to make sugar-coated almonds, the traditional Italian wedding candy. When Nello, a former lawyer, moved into the business in the 1950s, he came up with Atomic Fire Balls, inspired by his time in the military during World War II; Lemonheads were conceived after the birth of his son, Salvatore Ferrara, who is now president of Pan Candy. “He always claimed that when I was born, I came out of my mother sideways,” says Salvatore, “and that my head was shaped like a lemon.” When he was 82, Ferrara credited his energy to candy: “I eat an Atomic Fire Ball every day,” he said. (via LATimes)

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