Edwin Traisman, a food researcher who helped create Cheez Whiz and, as an early McDonald's franchise owner in Wisconsin, co-developed the freezing process used to make McDonald's french fries, has died. He was 91.

He had worked as a director of food research at Kraft Foods, where he was the key in the development of what we now call today "Cheez Whiz" cheese spread. His background in food science paid off when he bought his first McDonald's franchise in Madison, Wis., in the late 1950s.

All the french fries in McDonald's restaurants originally were made fresh in each restaurant, with employees peeling, cutting and washing the potatoes before frying them. McDonald's founder Ray Kroc had selected primarily Idaho Russet Burbank potatoes as the best spuds to make McDonald's french fries.

Ray Kroc, Founder of McDonalds, tasked Mr. Traisman to find a way of keeping a consitency in the taste, color and texture of the spuds while in the freezing process. Mr. Traisman found that by maintaining the amount of moisture in the potato before it was frozen was key to its flavor and firmness.

Mr. Traisman's "Method for Preparing Frozen French Fried Potatoes" was patented in 1962.

By 1972, the nearly 2,300 McDonald's restaurants were using the Traisman-Strong method for making french fries.

In addition to his wife of 44 years, Mr. Traisman is survived by five children, Claudia Ward, Barbara Traisman, Steven Traisman, Jenny Denise Traisman-Waddell and Lisa Traisman; seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

He will be greatly missed by all Fast Food Foodies.