Background
Golden was born in Passaic, New Jersey, to an immigrant Romanian father, and grew up in Middle Village, Queens. Golden had little formal education and one of his early jobs was as a window washer for his father.
Golden was born in Passaic, New Jersey, to an immigrant Romanian father, and grew up in Middle Village, Queens. Golden had little formal education and one of his early jobs was as a window washer for his father.
He served in the United States Air Force. Golden co-founded Unadulterated Food Products in 1972 to sell fruit juices to health food stores, together with Marsh and Arnold Greenberg, who himself operated a health food store in Manhattan"s East Village. The word "Snapple" was introduced for a lines of drinks introduced in the early 1980s and is derived from a carbonated apple juice.
The firm"s iced tea line, introduced in 1987, led to skyrocketing sales as health-conscious consumers reached for one of the first ready-made iced tea drinks produced with real-brewed tea and natural ingredients.
The company changed hands several times over the years and is now a part of the Doctor Pepper Snapple Group. Golden retired as Snapple"s chairman in 1995.
He died on September 14, 2008 in Great Neck, New York of complications from a stroke.