Paul Kalmanovitz
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Paul Kalmanovitz (1905–1987) was a millionaire brewing and real estate
magnate The term magnate, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...
best known for owning all or part of several national breweries and their products, including Falstaff Brewing Company and
Pabst Brewing Company The Pabst Brewing Company () is an American company that dates its origins to a brewing company founded in 1844 by Jacob Best and was, by 1889, named after Frederick Pabst. It outsources the brewing of over two dozen brands of beer and ma ...
. Most of the Kalmanovitz Estate was left to create a
charitable foundation A foundation (also referred to as a charitable foundation) is a type of nonprofit organization or charitable trust that usually provides funding and support to other charitable organizations through grants, while also potentially participating d ...
for hospitals and universities.


Biography

Kalmanovitz was born to a
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
family in
Åódź Åódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Åódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Åódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...
,
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
. While Paul emigrated to
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at the end of the
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, his father, mother, and brothers remained in Lodz. He later worked for Sir Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby. Kalmanowitz arrived in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
in the 1926 by jumping a merchant marine ship and jumped from job to job, working for several notable people such as
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
,
William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...
, and
Louis B. Mayer Louis Burt Mayer (; born Lazar Meir; July 12, 1884Mayer maintained that he was born in Minsk on July 4, 1885. According to Scott Eyman, the reasons may have been: * Mayer's father gave different dates for his birthplace at different times, so ...
(MGM). In 1945, Paul Kalmanovitz received a letter from his niece, Sonia Kalmanowicz, the daughter of his oldest brother Joseph Kalmanowicz. In this letter, she informed Paul that his brother had been murdered in
Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...
in 1944, but that she and her brother Stanislas had survived Auschwitz. He immediately arranged to apply for a visa number for them to enter the United States. By 1946, Stanislas was granted a visa; by then, Sonia had decided to remain in France. Stanislas departed from Le Havre in April 1946 in steerage on the SS Oregon, a ship of WWI vintage. When Paul entered the US he changed the spelling of the family name from Kalmanowicz to Kalmanovitz. When Stanislav arrived in New York he changed his name to Stanley Kalmanovitz. Paul was in New York to pick up his nephew and accompany him to his home in Tarzana, California. In 1950 Kalmanovitz acquired the Maier Brewing Company in
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,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
thus entering the brewing industry. Maier Brewing, makers of Brew 102, struggled for a number of years, and in 1958 faced an effort to be purchased by the Falstaff Brewing Company. Kalmanovitz refused to be bought out, after being threatened by Falstaff to either sell or Falstaff would bury the Maier Brewery. Within a few years Kalmanovitz returned the Maier Brewery to profitability. Along with the brewery and numerous other investments, Kalmanovitz's net worth increased. In 1970 Kalmanovitz purchased
Lucky Lager Lucky Lager is an American lager with U.S. brewing and distribution rights held by the Pabst Brewing Company. Originally launched in 1934 by San Francisco-based General Brewing Company, Lucky Lager grew to be one of the prominent beers of the ...
and merged it with Maier Brewing Company to form the General Brewing Company with S&P Corporation as its parent. By 1974 Falstaff was in need of cash. Falstaff's purchase of the Ballantine brands in 1972 proved to be a mistake and stretched the company's finances. Falstaff sold Kalmanovitz its
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brewery. The cash did not save Falstaff; in 1975 the company was again in trouble. Kalmanovitz offered to inject $20 million into Falstaff for 100,000 shares of preferred stock. On 28 April 1975, Paul Kalmanovitz gained controlling interest in Falstaff Brewing Company. Kalmanovitz more than quadrupled his brewery interests and became a major force on the American beer market. With the purchase of Falstaff, Kalmanovitz moved the Falstaff headquarters from
St Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...
,
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to San Francisco to combine it with General Brewing Company's headquarters. By June, more than 175 of Falstaff's corporate employees were laid off. The
United States Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its ...
(SEC) opened an investigation of the Falstaff purchase, and found it provided shareholders with false and misleading information. Kalmanovitz was prohibited from committing further securities laws violations and Falstaff stock was barred from trading and removed from the
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
. Falstaff appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court and lost. Falstaff workers unhappy with the new direction of the company staged a company lockout, which Kalmanovitz and General Brewing called a strike. Eventually Falstaff production resumed. Kalmanovitz's plans to make a profit off Falstaff were not to turn the company around and reestablish its brand strength in the market, but rather to cut costs drastically. The biggest change was the advertising budget where Kalmanovitz eliminated all types of marketing. Falstaff's market share continued to slide, resulting in plants closing and employees out of work. Falstaff was profitable for the S&P Corporation, but at a cost to works and the communities around the breweries. Kalmanovitz acquired an ailing brewery, fired the corporate personnel, reduced budgets, sold equipment, stopped plant maintenance, and eliminated product quality control. Kalmanovitz established a standard with Falstaff that was repeated as he purchased Stroh's,
National Bohemian National Bohemian Beer, colloquially Natty Boh, is an American lager originating from Baltimore, Maryland. It was first brewed in 1885 by the National Brewing Company, but was eventually purchased by Pabst Brewing Company. Nearly 90 percent ...
, Olympia,
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, and
Pabst Pabst is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Adolf Pabst (1899–1990), American mineralogist and geologist *Daniel Pabst (1826–1910), American furniture maker *Frederick Pabst (1836–1904), American brewer *Georg Wilhelm ...
. Breweries were not Kalmanovitz's only interests; he was involved in helping
Guide Dogs for the Blind Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB) is a guide dog school located in the United States, with campuses in San Rafael, California, and Boring, Oregon. It was founded in 1942 by Lois Merrihew and Don Donaldson to help veterans who had been blinded in Wo ...
and several other charitable organizations. Upon his death, Kalmanovitz's net worth was reputed to be in excess of $250 million. A sizable portion of his wealth was donated to numerous California hospitals. His estate also donated funds for the Paul and Lydia Kalmanovitz Library at the
University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...
, Kalmanovitz Hall at the
University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...
, and the Paul and Lydia Kalmanovitz Appellate Courtroom at the
University of California, Davis School of Law The University of California, Davis School of Law is the professional graduate law school of the University of California, Davis. The school received ABA approval in 1968. It joined the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 1968. UC Dav ...
(King Hall).


Criticism

Kalmanovitz specialized in
leveraged buy-out A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of a company using a significant proportion of borrowed money ( leverage) to fund the acquisition with the remainder of the purchase price funded with private equity. The assets of the acquired company ...
s, which take over businesses to sell off their parts for profit, closing plants and laying off employees. After a takeover in St. Louis, brewery employees flew the American flag at half-staff and upside down. In 1975, after Kalmanovitz gained control of Falstaff, most of its 175 corporate office employees were laid off. Some of the employee's severance checks bounced. "Kalmanovitz thought nothing of throwing hundreds of brewery workers out onto the streets, cutting off their pension and health benefits … " according to one historian. Forbes magazine wrote that "Kalmanovitz went through Falstaff like Grant through Richmond. ... He took no prisoners." In a 1979 court case, Bloor v. Falstaff, Kalmanovitz's brewery was fined $1.3 million. The judges described his management style as "Profit Uber Alles". Personally, he has been described as mean-spirited, controlling and eccentric. He banned telephones from his office and every time he would catch his employees installing a line, he would rip it out. After his death, a former legal secretary said, his associates toasted him with
Jack Daniel's Jack Daniel's is a brand of Tennessee whiskey produced at Jack Daniel Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, which has been owned by the Brown–Forman Corporation since 1956. Packaged in square bottles, Jack Daniel's "Black Label" Tennessee wh ...
, saying, "Ding dong the king is dead." Paul Kalmanovitz, whose mother and brothers died in the ghetto of Lodz and the Auschwitz concentration camp, denied he was Jewish until he died. In addition he told all of his associates that he had no family left alive, while to the contrary his nephew, Stanley Kalmanovitz, and his niece Sophie Kalmanovitz (who died in 2015), both of whom survived Auschwitz, were alive during his life.


Other Kalmanovitz breweries

* Lone Star Brewing Company * Pearl Brewing Company * Walter Brewing Company, Pueblo, Colorado


Notes


External links

*
Falstaff history
- Includes tidbits of Paul Kalmanovitz's history

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalmanovitz, Paul American brewers Polish emigrants to the United States 20th-century Polish Jews 1905 births 1987 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople American businesspeople in real estate 20th-century American philanthropists People from Åódź 20th-century American Jews Burials at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park