Born to Austrian Jewish immigrants, Tillie grew up in
Brooklyn, New York and stated she worked in the garment district at the age of 14. Tillie stated she married Louis Weisberg in 1916. Weisberg was a partner in Mosalina Products/Hochheiser & Weisberg, a wholesale grocery business that imported pomodoro tomatoes from Italy along with many other delicacies. Returning to the U.S., Tillie settled on
Stockton, California to grow the tomatoes. After persuading farmers in the area to experiment raising the tomatoes, she convinced Pacific Can Company to build a plant at Stockton with an option for her to buy it. By 1940, she had made
San Joaquin County the top tomato-producing county in the United States. Tillie and del Gaizo formed the Flotill Foods Corporation. When del Gaszio died in 1937, Tillie borrowed money and became the sole owner of Flotill Foods. Over the next decade, she began canning
spinach and
asparagus and built more canning plants. Flotill also canned fruits,
baby food and juices. During
World War II, Flotill was the largest supplier of
Army C-Rations in the nation. Tillie Lewis died in 1977 after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. A theater at
San Joaquin Delta College is named for Tillie Lewis, as is Tillie Lewis Drive in Stockton. In 2020, she was one of eight women featured in "The Only One in the Room" display at the
Smithsonian National Museum of American History. ==References==