Donald W. White Sr. of Scituate died on Sept. 1. at the South Shore Hospital surrounded by his family, after a courageous battle with pneumonia. He was 80 and was the retired co-owner, senior vice president and director of Hendrie’s Ice Cream Inc., and co-owner of New England Frozen Foods.

The son of the late Esther M. (Kelley) and Alan R. White of Milton, he was born in Boston on Nov. 2, 1929, and lived in Milton before moving to Scituate in 1954.

He graduated from Milton Academy, Babson College and Cornell University. He served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War.

In 1954, Mr. White joined White Brothers Milk Company of Quincy, a family-owned business since 1913 that was co-founded by his late father, along with his two brothers, Robert G. White and the late Allan R. White Jr., both of Milton. The company was the first to pasteurize milk in New England and regularly collected milk from over 800 dairy farms in Vermont and New Hampshire. Donald was known for decades as the only living New England trademark as the 11-month-old baby pictured on milk bottles and horse-drawn (later motor driven) carriages and delivery trucks.

He later joined his brothers in buying and expanding Hendrie’s Ice Cream Inc. in Milton in 1961 and New England Frozen Foods of Southboro in 1966, together building them into the largest purveyor of frozen foods in New England while acquiring seven other competing ice cream companies in the process. During that tenure he developed the Hendrie’s brand name frozen single stick novelty items, including the Juice Bar, York Peppermint Patty bar, Nestles Crunch Bar, Welch Bar and other national branded products. The company was one of the first to create and introduce all-natural ice cream products. His proudest achievement was working with his brothers in these successes for over 50 years. For decades his company delivered milk to the Vineyard and Nantucket, and many plant workers later retired to the Islands.

He was a former Dana-Farber Institute trustee and representative of the Jimmy Fund. He was cofounder and chairman of the Boston Dairy and Ice Cream festival known as the Scooper Bowl, which raises funds annually for the Jimmy Fund. He was a corporate member and trustee of Babson College, director of Cornell University’s PEM program advisory council and was visiting guest faculty there as well as at Purdue University’s agricultural marketing program.

He was an honorary member of the Scituate Harbor Yacht Club, Scituate Country Club, Scituate Rod and Gun Club, New England Corinthians, Scituate K of C, the American Legion, the Scituate Etrusco Association, Ducks Unlimited and Saint Mary’s parish in Scituate.

He had a lifelong fascination with naval maritime history and also enjoyed adventurous world travel, western bronze sculpture collecting, classical music, photography, sailing, hunting, skiing and tennis.

He is survived by wife, Pauline (Gladu); his brother, Robert G. White of Milton; and his sister Audree Parr of Erie, Pa. He was the former husband of the late Elaine Knapp White of Scituate. He is also survived by six children and numerous nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be may be made in memory of Donald W. White to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, attention Contribution Services, 10 Brookline Place West, 6th floor, Brookline, MA 02445-7226, or the Scituate Historical Society, P. O. Box 276, Scituate MA 02066.