Word: ponts
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Only three years ago, the biggest and oldest family-led company in America, E.I. du Pont de Nemours of Wilmington, Del., was hip-deep in family troubles. Chairman Lammot du Pont Copeland was bogged down in his son's spectacular personal bankruptcy and other problems, and Du Font's industrial stature was sliding. So "Mots" Copeland was eased aside for Charles
Brelsford McCoy, the first chief executive in the chemical giant's 171-year history to have no direct Du Pont family ties. Under "Brel" McCoy, profits rose smartly, from $334 million on sales of $3.6 billion in 1970 to $414 million on sales of $4.4 billion last year...
...positions that put them in line to take over when the chairman reaches the mandatory retirement age of 65 next April. Senior Vice President Irving S. Shapiro, who moved up to the new position of vice chairman of the board, is now officially No. 2 in the Du Pont hierarchy, and heir to the chief executive's job. Edward R. Kane, another senior vice president, was appointed president, and will provide the other part of a two-man top management team after McCoy leaves...
Kane, 54, earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from M.l.T. in 1943, joined Du Pont the same year, and rose through the company's textile branches. Shapiro, 57, is a courtly lawyer. He will become the first chief of Du Pont who is neither a chemist nor engineer, and has not spent his full career with the company...
Later Shapiro made a name for himself as a Justice Department lawyer, prosecuting Communist leaders. He joined Du Pont in 1951 because "Du Pont was an exciting place to be in business, despite its conservative aura at the time." Shapiro won his stripes by directing its epic battle with the Justice Department over divestiture of the company's General Motors stock-a struggle that finally ended in 1965 with Du Pont losing the antitrust action but disposing of the stock on favorable terms. Lately Shapiro has been the company's key negotiator in Securities and Exchange Commission hearings...