
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 29, 1993                   TAG: 9312290171
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: San Antonio Express-News
DATELINE: SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS                                LENGTH: Short

PICANTE SAUCE KING PACE DIES AT 79

David E. Pace, who created Pace Picante Sauce in 1947, died of heart failure Monday. He was 79.

A native of Monroe, La., he was the son of a manufacturer of maple syrup and jellies.

Pace earned a football scholarship to Tulane University, where he played in the first Sugar Bowl.

He graduated in 1937, coached football for two years, joined the Army Air Corps and completed pilot training in San Antonio in 1940.

Pace was a test pilot in the Army and served in India. After his return to San Antonio, he entered the syrup business he learned as a boy. He rented the back of a liquor store, where he cooked jellies, jams and syrups every morning, delivering them from the back of his truck in the afternoon.

Pace decided the real syrup of Texas was picante. He and his wife formed Pace Foods with a family recipe of jalapenos, onions and garlic, to which he added tomatoes.

by CNB