Springfield Creamery Announces the Passing of Co-Founder and Former CEO Sue Kesey
August 20, 2025 | 4 min to read
With deep sadness, Springfield Creamery announces the passing of co-founder and former CEO Sue Kesey, who led the company for over sixty years until her death at 86 on August 18, 2025. Known for her steady leadership and innovation, Sue helped establish Springfield Creamery as a pioneer in the natural foods sector, including the introduction of probiotics to yogurt. Her legacy of caring for employees and the community continues through her family, who now guide the creamery.
Eugene, Ore.— With deep sadness, Springfield Creamery shares the passing of its beloved co-founder and former CEO, Sue Kesey, who, alongside her husband Chuck, built and guided the company for more than six decades. Sue was 86 years old when she passed on August 18, 2025.
Since Springfield Creamery’s founding in 1960, Sue was the backbone of the business, known for her steady leadership, thoughtful decisions, and unwavering integrity. An Oregon State University graduate in Business and Secretarial Sciences, Sue applied her skills as General Manager, CFO, and finally CEO, growing the business from a small, local operation bottling milk in glass jugs into a nationally recognized innovator in cultured dairy foods.
In 1970, Sue and Chuck became groundbreakers in the natural foods industry when Springfield Creamery became the first U.S. company to add live probiotics to yogurt. That bold step led to the creation of Nancy’s Yogurt, launching what would become a line of more than 40 Nancy’s Probiotic Foods distributed throughout the U.S. Under Sue’s leadership, Springfield Creamery grew into a true family enterprise, now spanning three generations dedicated to continuing her mission of bringing nutritious foods to as many people as possible.
“Our mom spent more than six decades pouring her heart into Springfield Creamery—not to build a big company, but to care for the people and communities connected to it,” said Sheryl Kesey-Thompson, Sue’s daughter and co-owner at Springfield Creamery. “She valued employees, farmers, growers, and natural food partners as family, and she cared about every container of yogurt that left the creamery. She didn’t just wear a lot of hats, she wore all the hats, and we are so grateful to carry on the legacy that she and our dad created together.”
Sue’s steady hand helped guide the creamery through its toughest chapters. When the business faced financial hardship in 1972, Sue and Chuck turned to friends in the music world, and a legendary benefit concert by the Grateful Dead kept the company alive. Two decades later, after a devastating fire nearly destroyed the creamery in 1994, Sue once again led with compassion and determination, ensuring employees, customers, and partners were cared for as the family rebuilt. Through it all, Springfield Creamery remained independent and family-run.
Sue’s influence reached far beyond the walls of the creamery. She was a mentor, collaborator, and friend to countless others in the natural foods industry, sharing her business insight and camaraderie freely. She also gave generously to her community, serving for many years on the board of Mainstream Housing in Eugene and as a dedicated member of the Oregon Country Fair food committee.
“Our parents started the creamery with their friends, and no money,” recalled Kit Kesey, Sue’s son and co-owner of Springfield Creamery. “Many of those friends, a core group of 10 to 12, stayed at the creamery their entire careers. That is so exceptional, and a testimonial to how my mom, who was leading the company, cared for friends, employees and their families. She was tiny but mighty, and her impact was huge on so many.”
While her life’s work was her passion, Sue always cherished time with her family. She was a devoted mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, and especially treasured escapes to the wild Oregon Coast with her husband of nearly 65 years, Chuck. Today, her children Kit Kesey and Sheryl Kesey Thompson and grandchildren Taylor, Blake, and Grant Thompson help lead the creamery forward, while her younger grandchildren Hendrix and Wilson Kesey carry Sue’s love and integrity forward.
Sue’s influence lives on, and her legacy of love, leadership and innovation will continue to guide Springfield Creamery and inspire the natural foods community and her family for generations to come.
Plans for a memorial celebration of Sue’s life will be shared at a later date.
About Springfield Creamery and Nancy’s Probiotic Foods
Nancy’s Probiotic Foods offers organic and natural dairy and plant-based products that help support immune and digestive health. Springfield Creamery, maker of Nancy’s Probiotic Foods, is family-owned and operated since 1960, celebrating more than 60 years of making healthy, probiotic food. Nancy’s has been praised for “its stellar taste and velvety texture” by Forbes; and chosen as one of the “best probiotic foods for your gut” by Men’s Journal. Find select products from Nancy’s Probiotic Foods in retailers nationwide, including Whole Foods Market, Natural Grocers, Sprouts, Kroger and Safeway/Albertsons.
Read more about Springfield Creamery’s history here.