Walter Diemer

Diemer died of congestive heart failure in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on his 94th birthday. Saturday Night Live joked that his body was found stuck under a movie theatre seat.

According to his second wife, Florence, Walter Diemer never received royalties for his invention but he did not mind. She also said he oversaw construction of bubble gum plants in Philadelphia and Barcelona, Spain, and traveled around the world marketing the gum. He stayed with Fleer for decades, eventually reaching the position of senior vice president as well as a member of the Board of Directors of the Fleer Corporation. He retired in 1970, and remained on the board for 15 more years thereafter. Following the death of his first wife Adelaide in 1990, Diemer rode around his Pennsylvania retirement village in a big tricycle, distributing bubble gum to children.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Diemer was working as an accountant at Fleer in 1926 when the company president sought to cut costs by making their own gum base. The company's founder, Frank Henry Fleer, had previously made a batch of bubble gum in 1906 which he called "Blibber Blubber", but it was too sticky and easily broke. Ultimately, the bubble gum used nowadays was invented in 1928 in Wisconsin and has remained his greatest achievement.

Walter E. Diemer (January 8, 1904 – January 8, 1998) was an American accountant who, in 1928, invented bubble gum.