CHICAGO — Margaret Rella Dwyer, a long-time member of the W.E. Long Co., a pioneer in the baking industry and Baking Hall of Fame recipient, died on March 29. She was 87.

During her career, Dwyer made significant and measurable contributions to the baking industry. 

After receiving a degree in home economics from Mundelein College, Chicago, Dwyer began her career in 1958 with the W.E. Long Co., where she was promoted over the years, heading the cooperative’s research laboratory and eventually becoming corporate secretary and senior vice president for food technical services.

For more than 20 years, Dwyer was active in several organizations, including the American Bakers Association, where she headed the Food Technical Regulatory Affairs Committee (FTRAC).

As the ABA FTRAC chair, she helped bring the industry together to defend the baking industry’s positions on a litany of legislative and regulatory policies involving food safety, nutrition and biotechnology.

In the 1990s, Dwyer was instrumental in guiding the baking industry through landmark legislation and regulations that transformed nutrition labeling on packaging into what it is today.

She also was involved in the American Society of Baking (ASB) and as an integral member of the organization’s Scientific Advisory Committee. She also served on the board of the Wheat Quality Council. Throughout her career, she was an admittedly outspoken voice on key issues that affected the day-to-day operations of commercial bakeries. She retired in 2002.

“I was not afraid to speak up when I thought something was wrong,” Dwyer told Milling & Baking News in a 2010 profile about her being inducted into the Baking Hall of Fame. “I spoke up, and I wasn’t afraid to argue about certain things. Some I won and some I didn’t.”

Dwyer was also a founding member of the Society of Bakery Women, serving as the organization’s first president and helped set a precedent for women in the field of baking science and senior management within the baking industry.

Through the years, Dwyer said she finally saw women become accepted in the industry after years of often being the only woman at various industry meetings. In Milling & Baking News, she recalled how she was probably one of 30 women among thousands of people when she attended ASB (previously known as the American Society of Bakery Engineers) conferences early in her career.

That lack of diversity led to the advent of the Society of Bakery Women to provide a networking platform for the women in the industry and support for those young professionals starting their careers.

Moreover, Dwyer was a longtime chair of the ASB Scientific Advisory Committee, a session chair and often a featured speaker who provided the latest technical updates at various association meetings. In the AACC International (now known as the Cereal and Grains Association), Dwyer served as the chair of the Milling and Baking Division from which she received multiple awards.

“Rella was a dedicated leader and thoughtful mentor for so many in the industry, said Lee Sanders, a friend, former colleague and president of Lee Sanders Strategy Group LLC. “She taught me so much over the years not only about bakery issues but about business, life and how to work through difficult issues to reach consensus. Those lessons were priceless. I owe so much to Rella’s guidance over the years. She was a true friend.”

Dwyer was born February 22, 1937, to Niles and Estelle (nee Walsh) Dwyer. She was the sister of Niles Dwyer and the late Mary Dwyer (late James) Dyer; aunt of Cathy Parkinson (Gary) Bock, Elizabeth Parkinson (Daniel) Rockers and Mary Jane Parkinson; great-aunt of Ian and Nolan Rockers. She loved to read, travel and play golf.