NEW YORK — Morrie R. Yohai, the creator of the crunchy, finger-staining orange Cheez Doodles snack, has died. He was 90.

Yohai died of cancer on July 27 at his Long Island home in Kings Point, his son, Robbie, said Tuesday.

His father was always amused that people thought the cheddar cheese snack he produced at his Bronx factory was the highlight of his life, Robbie Yohai said. His father’s wide-ranging interests extended to Jewish mysticism and poetry, and the snack was only one of many things his father did, Yohai said.

But it’s Cheez Doodles that he will be remembered for.

Yohai developed the small tubular snack at his Old London Foods factory in the 1950s. The company already was selling Dipsy Doodles rippled corn chips, which were made with a machine that spit them out under pressure through a nozzle shaped like the letter W.

The snack was coated with seasoning and cheddar cheese that colors hands bright orange. To make the Cheez Doodles healthier, they were baked, not fried.