Merage family
{{Short description|Iranian Jewish family in California}}
{{Infobox Family
|name = The Merage Family
{{lang|fa|خانوادهٔ معراج}}
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|estate = Orange County, California
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|region = United States
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The Merage family ({{langx|fa|خانوادهٔ معراج}}, {{IPAc-en|m|ə|ˈ|r|ɑː|dʒ|}}) is a wealthy Iranian Jewish family residing in Orange County, California.[http://jewishjournal.com/uncategorized/66702/ Jewish Journal: "Photo Essay: L.A.’s Iranian Jews repaying Alliance’s generosity" by Karmel Melamed] November 2, 2008 In 2004 the Merage Jewish Community Center{{cite web|title=Merage Jewish Community Center of Orange County, California|url=http://www.meragejcc.org/|accessdate=30 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130613175118/http://meragejcc.org/|archive-date=13 June 2013|url-status=dead}} opened in Irvine, California; the center was named after the Merage Family and serves the needs of Orange County.
David and Paul Merage{{cite web|title=Meet Our Leaders|url=http://www.uciglobalfuture.com/Pages.aspx/Paul-Merage|work=Shaping the Future of Global Leaders|publisher=University of California, Irvine|accessdate=30 April 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130629022155/http://www.uciglobalfuture.com/Pages.aspx/Paul-Merage|archivedate=29 June 2013}} co-founded Chef America Inc. where they created the popular microwavable snack Hot Pockets in the early 1980s. The brothers later sold the Chef America Inc. company to Nestlé for $2.6 billion.{{cite web|url=http://mitsloan.mit.edu/newsroom/2008-merage.php|title=Special Lecture by David Merage, Entrepreneur and Co-Founder, Chef America|date=30 April 2008|publisher=MIT|accessdate=27 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608060106/http://mitsloan.mit.edu/newsroom/2008-merage.php|archive-date=8 June 2011|url-status=dead}} Hot Pockets were manufactured in Englewood, Colorado, Chef America's former headquarters, until moving its business to the rest of Nestlé's frozen business in Solon, Ohio.{{cite web |title=Nestle to Move HOT POCKETS® and LEAN POCKETS® Business to Ohio |url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nestle-to-move-hot-pockets-and-lean-pockets-business-to-ohio-138799154.html |publisher=PR Newswire |location=Solon, Ohio, US |date=February 6, 2012 |accessdate=January 11, 2013}}
Paul Merage's daughter Michelle Janavs, a food executive who was at one point regarded as the Hot Pockets "heiress," was later implicated in the notorious Operation Varsity Blues college admissions scandal and later sentenced in February 2020 to five months in prison after pleading guilty to paying Rick Singer $100,000 to fix ACT scores for her two daughters so they could be admitted into the University of Southern California.{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/02/25/hot-pockets-heiress-michelle-janavs-serve-5-months-varsity-blues-college-admissions-scandal/4866674002/|title=Hot Pockets heiress Michelle Janavs gets 5 months in prison in admissions scandal|first=Joey|last=Garrison|publisher=USA Today|date=February 25, 2020|accessdate=August 1, 2021}}{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-25/college-admissions-scandal-michelle-janavs-hot-pockets-sentenced|title=Admissions scandal: Heir to Hot Pockets fortune sentenced to 5 month|work=Los Angeles Times|date=February 25, 2020|accessdate=August 1, 2021}}