A version of this article appears in print on July 31, 2025, Section A, Page 21 of the New York edition with the headline: James Leprino, Who Innovated Cheese for Pizza, Is Dead at 87.

DENVER (KDVR) – James “Jim” Leprino, a Colorado businessman nicknamed the “Willy Wonka of cheese,” died Thursday, according to his namesake company. Leprino, born in 1937, grew up in ...