Rose Mattus, who with her husband Reuben came up with Haagen-Dazs ice cream in 1960, died on Tuesday in Westwood, New Jersey. She was 90. The Haagen-Dazs company sprang from her husband’s family-run ice cream business in New York City. As long-suspected, the brand’s remarkably easy-to-say name was concocted by Reuben and means nothing in any language. (And was preferred over the tongue-twisting Frusen Gladje ice cream brand devised by an American competitor claiming to be Swedish.) “Rose and Reuben were pioneers and legends in the ice cream field,” said Jerry Greenfield, the Jerry of Ben & Jerry’s. Despite her diabetes, Rose was Haagen-Dazs’ biggest fan, particularly of vanilla. (Source)