Creator of Doritos dies at 97

Arch West, the man credited with creating Doritos as the first national tortilla chip brand, died in Dallas at 97. He will be buried with the chips that made him famous.

At the graveside service, West's family plans on "tossing Doritos chips in before they put the dirt over the urn" according to the Houston Chronicle. The retired Frito-Lay marketing executive will be buried on Oct 1.  According to family, he passed away last Tuesday of natural causes.  They confirmed his death this weekend.  

West will be buried with the Original, Cool Ranch and Nacho flavored chips- he was not a fan of the Cheeseburger flavor, and thus will not be buried along with them, reports TMZ.

According to his daughter, Jana Hacker, West initially got a lukewarm response from the corporate heads at Frito-Lay when he introduced the chip.

He'd discovered tortilla chips while in San Diego- at a shack that sold fried tortillas. To prove to the Dallas based Frito-Lay company that the chip was worth their investment, West put in the marketing research that led to the invention of the snack.

According to the Washington Post, the tortilla chip was invented in Los Angeles when a tortilla machine insisted on spitting out irregularly shaped tortillas. The owner of the machine, Rebecca Webb Carranza, took them home, cut them up and fried them. She's largely credited for their popularity.