Paul Newman was a perfectionist, in acting, race car driving — and salad dressing.

His wife, actress Joanne Woodward, told a story about the time they went for a meal at the exclusive Chasen’s in Beverly Hills. When waiters refused to comply with his request for olive oil, vinegar, chopped celery, salt, pepper, and mustard to make his own dressing, he took his salad to the men’s room and washed the dressing off.

In 1980, he and his friend A.E. Hotchner mixed an enormous vat of salad dressing to bottle for friends. That led to the idea for Newman’s Own Salad Dressing, a food brand that would deliver all of its profits to charity. Its motto: “Shameless exploitation in pursuit of the common good.”

It made money quickly. But Newman, who died in 2008, had interest in neither profits nor recognition. He abhorred what he called “noisy philanthropy,” once declining a national medal. ”He thought the world had treated him incredibly well,” his daughter, Nell Newman, told the N.Y. Times.

Begun as a lark, Newman’s Own has so far given away more than $550 million to help sick children, veterans, independent media, and numerous other causes.

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