Bennett LeBow

Bennett S. LeBow is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of the board of Vector Group. After LeBow acquired the cigarette manufacturer Liggett Group in 1986, the company became involved in anti-tobacco lawsuits culminating in the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.

Early life and education

LeBow's father, Martin, was a life insurance salesman and his mother, Suara (née Weiss), was a teacher.''The New York Times'': "An Entrepreneur's High-Stakes Move" By Glenn Collins
March 21, 1997Philadelphia Inquirer: "Bennett S. LeBow, a longtime businessman, with a great love for Drexel, his alma mater" By Melissa Dribben
November 16, 2010 He graduated from West Philadelphia High School, and in 1960 earned a degree in electrical engineering from Drexel University. LeBow then went on to graduate school at Princeton University. Before completing his degree, LeBow left Princeton and joined the army where he installed early data systems at the Pentagon.

Career

LeBow's first foray into business occurred in the 1960s, when he started a computer company to continue his Pentagon project. LeBow sold the business in 1971, and became a full-time investor. In 1980, he founded the investment holding company Brooke Group Ltd.Britannica Online: "Bennett S. LeBow"
retrieved October 25, 2015 LeBow went on to purchase many companies including Western Union, Information Displays, MAI Basic Four, Liggett Group, Brigham's Ice Cream,''The New York Times'': "Turnaround Artist: Bennett S. LeBow; Collecting Wall Street's Wallflowers" By Barnaby J. Feder
September 25, 1988 and SkyBox International. In 2000, Brooke Group Ltd. was renamed to Vector Group Ltd.

In 1984, LeBow completed the sale of Information Displays, which subsequently went bankrupt. The buyer sued LeBow and his partners for fraud and misrepresentation. In 1986, he purchased the fifth-largest cigarette manufacturer in the United States, the Liggett Group, for $140 million."Lebow Turns Over a New Leaf"
''BusinessWeek''. May 6, 2001. "LeBow, who is Jewish, even brought in a rabbi to say a prayer for the dead deal". In 1987, Liggett bought a majority stake in Western Union, which had a negative net worth of $200 million. The company, then renamed New Valley LLC, eventually filed for bankruptcy but was able to pay its bondholders in full via asset sales. Liggett later sold its remaining interest in Western Union Financial Services Inc for $1.2 billion, earning it a $300 million profit. In 1994, LeBow was sued by his shareholders, who claimed he had taken millions of dollars in improper loans; LeBow settled out of court." In 1995, he teamed up with corporate raider Carl Icahn to make a bid for RJR Nabisco. The bid was rejected by shareholders, who were skeptical due to LeBow's "dubious reputation as a manager."

In May 2010, after a $25 million investment, he became a member of the board of directors at Borders and was immediately elected chairman of the board, replacing Mick McGuire, who resigned. In June 2010, LeBow became CEO of Borders Group Inc. In February 2011, Borders declared bankruptcy.

LeBow is chairman of the board of Vector Group, the holding company for Liggett Group, Vector Tobacco, New Valley LLC, and Douglas Elliman. He owns over 150,000 units of Vector stock, worth $7.5 million.

Tobacco industry and litigation

LeBow purchased the Liggett Group for $140 million in 1986. In 1993, LeBow stated under sworn testimony that whether cigarettes cause cancer is irrelevant, since cigarettes are a legal product and people choose to use them. In 1996, while under his leadership, Liggett Group broke ranks with the rest of the US tobacco industry, including Philip Morris, Brown and Williamson, RJR Nabisco, Loews and Lorillard, when he announced that Liggett would settle the Medicaid tobacco suits brought by forty state attorneys general.

Liggett had previously been accused of being illegally influenced by Philip Morris, which allegedly paid some of Liggett's legal bills in order to buy its cooperation in anti-tobacco lawsuits. LeBow stated that the reason for the settlement was to obtain immunity for Liggett from future liabilities and to prevent a future bankruptcy.Inside the Tobacco Deal: Bennet LeBow Profile
PBS Frontline The settlement entailed that Liggett agree to pay $1 million in damages; publicly announce that smoking is addictive and causes cancer; turn over long-secret tobacco industry documents; disclose ingredients in its cigarettes; and testify against the industry. Liggett was the first cigarette company to voluntarily put the label "Nicotine is Addictive" on their product.

LeBow was honored with a proclamation by Florida governor Lawton Chiles for his "invaluable assistance" in helping the state achieve its $11.3 billion settlement with the tobacco industry.

According to court documents, Liggett, while under LeBow's leadership, "engage in marketing tactics that appeal to youths, such as couponing, sampling, and 'buy one get one free' offers for its cigarettes, and advertise in magazines with substantial youth readership."

Through Vector Tobacco Inc., LeBow developed the nicotine-free cigarette Quest, a cigarette designed to aid in smoking cessation.

In 2005, LeBow resigned from the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute Board of Trustees shortly after his appointment over discussions about the propriety of associating with the owner of a company which sells products that are known to cause cancer.

Philanthropy and political activity

LeBow is a large supporter of his alma mater, Drexel University. In 1998, Drexel's College of Business and Administration was named the Bennett S. LeBow College of Business in his honor after LeBow made a $10 million donation to the university. LeBow also endowed the Bennett S. LeBow Engineering Center, a facility that houses Drexel's College of Engineering. In November 2010, LeBow contributed $45 million for the construction of a new facility for the LeBow College of Business, the 12th largest gift to any US business school and the biggest ever to Drexel University. The new facility, which was finished in 2013, was named Gerri C. LeBow Hall in honor of LeBow's late wife Geraldine. In 2011, LeBow was named the nation's 23rd largest charitable donor by ''The Chronicle of Philanthropy'' for donating more than $49 million to charitable causes.

From 1993 to 1996, LeBow and his wife Geraldine donated more than $65,000 to Democratic candidates. In 1995, LeBow invited Vadim Rabinovich to a Clinton–Gore fundraiser in Miami, though this did not become public knowledge until 1997. Rabinovich was alleged to have ties to Russian organized crime, with American journalist Robert I. Friedman describing Rabinovich as a "Ukrainian mob boss". A spokesman for LeBow said that, at the time of the fundraiser, LeBow was unaware of Rabinovich's alleged ties to organized crime. Rabinovich said he did not donate money to the fundraiser. According to a spokesman for LeBow in 1997, LeBow's Brooke Group and Rabinovich were participating in the development of a business center and luxury hotel in Kyiv. In 2009, LeBow made a $10,000 campaign contribution to Manhattan District Attorney candidate Leslie Crocker Snyder, whose law firm – Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman – had represented the Liggett Group in smoking and health litigation since 1996. According to CNN, LeBow was a "substantial donor" to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

Personal life

LeBow is Jewish. LeBow was first married to Geraldine CosherDrexel University news: "College Mourns Death of Gerri LeBow"
August 3, 2011 whom he met while they were college students (he was at Drexel and she attended Temple University). They had two daughters. Geraldine died in 2011 after 52 years of marriage. Bennett subsequently married Jacqueline Finkelstein of JSF Capital.

In 1989, Brooke Yachts International Ltd. (which LeBow bought for $4million when the shipyard encountered financial issues) finished Lebow's $21 million yacht. The yacht, which was long, was considered one of the ten largest private yachts in 1993.

LeBow owned property on Fisher Island in Florida. The penthouse, which was bought by Geraldine for $4.25million in 1995, was sold in 2020 for $15million. In 2016, LeBow bought an , five-bedroom unit on the 64th floor of 432 Park Avenue in New York City for $44.8million.

See also

* List of tobacco-related topics

References

Further reading

LeBow Appears Set to Start A Skirmish for RJR Nabisco
''The New York Times'', August 30, 1995.
Liggett's Bennett LeBow Honored by Florida Governor Lawton Chiles and Attorney General Robert Butterworth
Business Wire, October 21, 1997.

External links

Drexel University's LeBow College of Business

{{DEFAULTSORT:LeBow, Bennett S.
20th-century American businesspeople
21st-century American businesspeople
American chairpersons of corporations
American computer businesspeople
American entertainment industry businesspeople
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American retail chief executives
American technology company founders
American tobacco industry executives
Corporate raiders
Drexel Burnham Lambert
Drexel University alumni
Living people
Businesspeople from Philadelphia
Princeton University alumni
Private equity and venture capital investors
Western Union people
1938 births
21st-century American Jews
West Philadelphia High School alumni