Posted on 05/01/2004 3:36:05 PM PDT by NYFriend
Tobacco Magnate Dies At 92
Last Update: 5/1/2004 1:20:52 PM
New York, NY (AP) 05/01/04 - Joseph F. Cullman III, the Philip Morris executive who became the cigarette industry's chief defender against the anti-tobacco movement for decades, died Friday at a hospital in Manhattan. He was 92.
Cullman retired as chairman and chief executive in 1978, but remained as chairman emeritus, lobbying legislators and defending cigarettes at Congressional hearings.
In 1971, when the government banned cigarette advertising on television, Cullman said in an interview, "I do not believe that cigarettes are hazardous to one's health."
In response to a question about a study that found smoking mothers gave birth to smaller babies than nonsmoking mothers, Cullman said: "Some women would prefer having smaller babies."
He smoked for many years but eventually quit.
Cullman also helped lead the company to become a corporate superpower. The Philip Morris Companies, the parent organized in 1985, went on to buy General Foods, Kraft and Nabisco Holdings. Under Cullman, the company also became a large supporter of tennis and the arts.
Philip Morris spent millions each year backing organizations like the Dance Theater of Harlem, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Guggenheim and Metropolitan art museums.
Cullman was an active conservationist and was a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 1976 to 1983.
Tobacco was a family business, but it began with cigars in the northeast, not the south. Cullman attended Yale, then worked at a cigar store in New York before he was sent to Havana to work in a cigar factory.
He joined Philip Morris as a vice president, and was named president and chief executive in 1957.
He married Susan Lehman in 1935, the grandniece of Herbert Lehman, then the governor of New York. They had a daughter, Dorothy, and divorced in 1974. He married Joan Paley Straus, whom he later divorced and remarried.
©2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yeah, but what did he die from?
Probably because it got too damned expensive!
Just think - Had he never smoked he might have lived to 92.5.
Jimm Fixx and that Powerbar executive were joggers who died in their early 50s. Both died from massive heart attacks.
Does it matter? The guy lived into his 90s even though he was a former smoker. He outlived a lot of the healthnuts, that's for sure.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1102105/posts
You wonder why they never write such derogatory obits when, say, an abortionist dies. Someone like that who was more directly responsible for more deaths is weirdly treated as a hero.
Ah, genetics. The number one thing you can do to ensure a long life is to choose your parents wisely.
Yeah, he herded every smoker in America into a room and held guns to their temples.
Gee, what is that? I don't remember anything about that at all! :-)
I should have been clear - I was talking about the abortionist.
uhhhhh....don't they all?
My bad - I should learn to read better.
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