Eli Goldston (March 8, 1920 - January 21, 1974) was an American business leader and a leading spokesman for corporate social responsibility. He was President and CEO of Eastern Gas and Fuel Associates of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, from 1961 until 1974.

Early life and education

Eli Goldston was born on March 8, 1920, in

Warren, Ohio Warren is a city in Trumbull County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 39,201 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along the Mahoning River, Warren lies approximately northwest of Youngstown, Ohio, Y ...

. He was educated at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

(A.B. 1942),

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

(M.B.A. 1946), and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

(LL.B. 1949.).

Career

As chief executive of Eastern Gas and Fuel, Goldston ran diversified energy corporation with 19 subsidiaries in the

bituminous coal Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the coal seam, ...

, coke, gas utility and river-ocean marine industries. He was best known, however, for his belief that liberal politics and corporate success could go hand in hand. He is quoted as having said: "I don't believe that business, alone, can solve our social problems. Neither do I believe it, alone, has caused them. But they'll not get solved unless innovative businessmen, who sense a changing world and feel challenged, react in a fashion likely to produce profit as well as imaginative response to social need." Goldston's most visible legacy is the

Rainbow Swash The Rainbow Swash is the common name for an untitled work by Corita Kent in the Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts, Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The rainbow design painted on a tall LNG storage tank was copyrighted in 1972, an ...

, a giant 1971 artwork by

Corita Kent Corita Kent (November 20, 1918 – September 18, 1986), born Frances Elizabeth Kent and also known as Sister Mary Corita Kent, was an American artist, designer and educator, and former religious sister. Key themes in her work included Christian ...

that Goldston commissioned on a tall

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volume o ...

tank facing Boston's Southeast Expressway. The artwork was added to another gas tank on the Dorchester waterfront in 1992 when the original LNG tank was torn down. The Rainbow Swash is reportedly the largest copyrighted work of art in the world. The mural drew controversy when critics believed they saw the face of

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

leader

Ho Chi Minh (born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), colloquially known as Uncle Ho () among other aliases and sobriquets, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first President of Vietnam, president of the ...

's face in its blue stripe, which Goldston and Kent both denied.

Death and legacy

Goldston died on January 21, 1974. Two professorships at Harvard University, one in the law school and one in the business school, were established in his memory, "join their skills and commitments in teaching, research and course development … to improve social conditions through men and women trained and motivated in management and legal fields." Goldston also established two funds at Harvard Law School, the Issachar J. Goldston Memorial Scholarship and the Gertrude R. Goldston Scholarship. His son is physicist

Robert J. Goldston Robert James Goldston (born May 6, 1950) is a professor of astrophysics at Princeton University and a former director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Early life and education Goldston was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1950, the son of El ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldston, Eli 1920 births 1974 deaths American chief executives Businesspeople from Massachusetts Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Law School alumni People from Warren, Ohio 20th-century American businesspeople Harvard College alumni