The Guatemalan woman credited with inventing McDonald’s happy food has died, Newsweek reports. Yolanda Fernández de Cofiño, 87, died on Monday, just three years after leaving the McDonald’s franchise she had held since 1974. McDonald’s Guatemala signaled her move to a statement on Twitter. “McDonald’s Guatemala deeply regrets the sensitive death of its president, Mrs. Yolanda Fernández de Cofiño,” the company wrote, for Newsweek. “This is without a doubt one of the most difficult and sad times for the family, the company and its thousands of collaborators in Guatemala.”
Fernández de Cofiño launched the child-centered “Ronald Menu” in his Guatemalan franchise in the 1970s after realizing that the food portions were too large for the children. The decision was eventually made by the company in the United States, which led to the launch of Happy Meal in 1979. Fernández de Cofiño is also credited with the first authorized birthday parties inside a McDonald’s, which which caused the company to award him the “Ronald Prize.”
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