Hollis Osborne, founder of Stratum Nutrition, which commercialized the health benefits of leftover eggshells, died on Feb. 22 at the age of 92.

He was born on Sept. 12, 1929 to Olyn and Lilly Osborne near Jasper and Golden City, MO.

In 1950, after graduating from the University of Missouri, he married his high school sweetheart, Nina; they were married for 71 years. Osborne was a  Korean war veteran and was a recipient of the Bronze Star.

In 1953, Osborne opened a feed store in Jane, MO. Soon after, he began growing chickens and selling eggs and eventually went into the egg business full time. He grew his one-man operation to leading his company, Top Notch Farms, to being one of the largest egg producers in the Midwest. The company was sold to Land O’Lakes in 2006.

In early 2000, Osborne began working on finding value from leftover eggshells that were currently being sent from egg breaking facilities to landfills—hundreds of thousands of tons each year. After learning about the joint health benefits of eggshell membrane, in 2003 he and his team developed a fully mechanical system that used heat and vacuum to separate the membrane from the eggshell. This now patented process is ideal as it does not require any chemicals, and the only byproduct of the process is steam.

Osborne created Membrell, which was a finished product company selling the NEM brand eggshell membrane ingredient in supplement form. After finding quick success, Osborne and his family, who had begun to help run his new venture, created ESM Technologies of which supplied the NEM and ESC ingredients to the nutrition industry including supplement and functional food and beverage manufacturers. After several joint ventures and global expansion, Stratum Nutrition entered into a partnership with Maxim Partners, LLC, a Chicago, IL-based private equity firm earlier this year.

“The thing that struck me most about Hollis was that he put the meaning of family in all of his family businesses,” said Kevin Ruff, Stratum Nutrition senior director of scientific and regulatory affairs. “You could work for him for your entire career, and he would make sure you were taken care of.  That’s rare in this day and age, even in family businesses. His heart particularly showed at the annual Christmas parties where all of his businesses would get together to celebrate, and he made sure to come around and speak with everyone.”

Osborne’s funeral service was held on March 1 at Fairview Christian Church in Carthage, MO. Military Honors followed the funeral at Park Cemetery in Carthage.

Along with his wife, Osborne is survived by four children, Holly Adams (Randy), Paul Osborne (Ronda), Ron Osborne (Kim), and Karen Downs (Danny), 11 grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren.

Online condolences may be made at www.ulmerfh.com.