John A. Hauser

His work as a civic leader also included serving on the boards of Warner Hospital, Gettysburg National Bank, Adams County Library, and Gettysburg College. He also held leadership positions on national boards serving as president for International Apple Association, Pennsylvania Canners Association, and the Processed Apples Institute. In 1978, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Assoc. named him “Man of the Year.”

Hauser served as a College trustee from 1967 to 1979, and then was elected as “an honorary life trustee” for his distinguished service. In 1963 the College also awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws. In November 1973, a new campus building was named for him. The John A. Hauser Field House contains an indoor track; tennis and basketball courts; cage areas for baseball and golf; and practice areas for soccer, football, and lacrosse.

In 1961, Musselman merged with Pet Milk Company (later Pet Inc.) based in St. Louis, Missouri. While continuing as president of the Musselman Division, he also became Pet's vice president and board member. A further consolidation with Pet's Winebrenner Division in Hanover, Pennsylvania, allowed for new product development such as ready-mix pie fillings, spiced apple rings, chunky apple sauces, as well as a wider range of food products such as cherries, berries, prunes, and eventually fruit juice drinks.

During Hauser's 28-year tenure the company's land holdings expanded to over 6,000 acres including the purchase of orchards in West Virginia. In 1958 the company acquired Wolff Farm Supply Company in Biglerville, dealing in farm machinery and trucks. Soon after, they obtained Dwan's Home Canning Company with two plants in Michigan to meet the growing demand for products in the Midwest.

The Musselman Foundation was created in 1941 to provide scholarship and other assistance to higher and secondary education, and aid local charitable interests. Emma Musselman established her own charitable organization in 1955. The Emma G. Musselman Foundation concentrated its philanthropy on local hospitals, building funds, higher education, and mental health.

Hauser was the son of John S. and Bertha C. (nee Rieker) Hauser. In December 1934 he married Helen B. Skinner (1910-2012), a fellow Temple University student from Arendtsville, Pennsylvania. They had three daughters: Melinda, Jane, and Hannah. A son, John Samuel (born April 23, 1940), died at age six.

Hauser, a native of York, Pennsylvania, joined Musselman in August 1934 after studying at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Temple University. He spent a decade working his way up the ladder before becoming the company's second president in March 1944 after the death of founder Christian H. Musselman.

John A. Hauser (October 4, 1907 – April 14, 1983) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He served as president of the apple processing company, C. H. Musselman Company, from 1944 until his retirement in 1972. He also became vice president of Pet Incorporated, the multi-brand food products conglomerate, when the companies merged in 1961.

Founded in 1907, Musselman was considered to be the largest apple processing company in the United States by 1944. When Hauser became president, he took Musselman products national. As an early canner of apple sauce, the company introduced the American public to one of the first “convenience” foods. Based in Biglerville, Pennsylvania, Musselman owned over 800 acres of land devoted primarily to orcharding. By 1938, they had added two more plants, one in nearby Gardeners, Pennsylvania; and another in Inwood, West Virginia.