Bennett S. LeBow

Bennett S. LeBow is a financier and corporate raider. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Vector Group, a holding company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Biography

LeBow, a native of Philadelphia, graduated from Drexel University in 1960 with a degree in electrical engineering. LeBow then went on to teach computer design at Princeton University where he was also earning his PhD. LeBow then left Princeton and joined the army where he installed early data systems at the Pentagon. LeBow's first foray into business occurred in the 1960s when he started a computer company to continue his Pentagon project. LeBow eventually sold the business in 1971 for a profit and became a full time investor. During the 1980s LeBow developed a skill for revamping undervalued and bankrupt companies. LeBow went on to purchase many companies including: Western Union, Information Displays Inc., MAI Basic Four, Liggett Group, Brigham's Ice Cream, and others.

LeBow also started the SkyBox International trading card company and eventually sold the business to Marvel.

LeBow made history in 1996 when 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 publicly announced that smoking is addictive and causes cancer and other health ailments, turned over long-secret tobacco industry documents, disclosed its ingredients, and testified against the industry. Liggett was the first cigarette company to voluntarily put the label "Nicotine is Addictive" on their product. LeBow's actions were pivotal to the government in their signing of the Master Settlement Agreement. In addition to this, LeBow was honored by Florida Governor Lawton Chiles for his "invaluable assistance" in helping Florida achieve its historic $11.3 billion settlement with the tobacco industry. LeBow also developed, through Vector Tobacco Inc., the nicotine-free cigarette Quest (cigarette) which is a cigarette designed to help people quit smoking. [Davis, Joshua. " [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.02/smoking.html Come to LeBow Country] " Wired, February 2003] Also that year LeBow teamed up with corporate raider Carl Icahn to make a bid for RJR Nabisco.

Today LeBow is Chairman of the Board of Vector Group, the holding company for Liggett Group, Vector Tobacco, New Valley LLC, and Douglas Elliman.

LeBow is also 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 a contribution of $10 million to the university. [cite web| date =1999| url =http://www.drexel.edu/univrel/drexelink/story.asp?ID=279&vol=5&num=9| title =Drexel Receives $10 Million Gift from Alumnus Bennett S. LeBow| publisher =Drexel University| accessdate =2007-10-29] Further, he endowed the Bennett S. LeBow Engineering Center, a state-of-the-art facility that houses Drexel's College of Engineering.

References

*Collins, Glenn. " [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E6DA173BF932A15750C0A961958260 An Entrepreneur's High-Stakes Move] " New York Times, March 21, 1997.
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1997_Oct_21/ai_19912633 Liggett's Bennett LeBow Honored by Florida Governor Lawton Chiles and Attorney General Robert Butterworth] , Business Wire, October 21, 1997.
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/settlement/deal/people/lebow.html Inside the Tobacco Deal: Bennet LeBow Profile] PBS Frontline.

External links

* [http://www.lebow.drexel.edu Drexel University's LeBow College of Business]