LeBow, Bennett S.

Bennett S. LeBow, (born 1938, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.), American businessman who became the first tobacco executive to publicly admit to the dangers of cigarettes.

LeBow received an engineering degree in 1960 from Drexel University in Philadelphia and did postgraduate work at Princeton University. In 1961 he formed a computer company, DSI Systems, Inc., which he sold in 1971. During the 1970s and ’80s, LeBow was successful as a financial speculator. In one notable venture he made a profit of $30 million on sales of stock in cigarette maker American Brands. In 1980 he founded holding company Brooke Group Ltd., and in 1986—20 years after LeBow himself had quit smoking—it acquired the Liggett Group, the fifth largest tobacco company in the United States.

In a lawsuit in 1993, LeBow maintained solidarity with the heads of the other big tobacco companies by refusing to admit any knowledge of the dangers of smoking. In early 1996, however, Liggett became the first tobacco company to arrange a monetary settlement in a class-action lawsuit, though the amount was small. Some said LeBow’s plan at the time was to merge Liggett with the much larger firm RJR Nabisco, which would participate in the settlement and be free from future litigation, but this did not come to pass.

On March 20, 1997, Liggett took another unprecedented step in the controversy over the dangers of smoking. LeBow admitted in a settlement with 22 states that cigarette smoking is addictive and causes cancer. The statement signed by LeBow in March included frank admissions about the hazards of smoking. In it he affirmed that

we at Liggett know and acknowledge that, as the Surgeon General and respected medical researchers have found, cigarette smoking causes health problems, including lung cancer, heart and vascular disease and emphysema. We at Liggett also know and acknowledge that…nicotine is addictive.

Later in the document he also admitted that “the tobacco industry markets to ‘youth,’ which means those under 18 years of age.” The statement promised that Liggett would turn over pertinent documents to plaintiffs’ lawyers in tobacco lawsuits. LeBow’s settlement was immediately attacked by large tobacco companies such as Philip Morris, which claimed it was made simply as a business ploy and had no basis in fact. Liggett did not back down, and by mid-1997 it had begun labeling its cigarette packages with the warning “Smoking is addictive.” In June of that year, LeBow announced the company’s intent to list all ingredients, including nicotine levels, on all cartons of cigarettes. Liggett was the first company to take such a step.

Brooke Group Ltd. was renamed Vector Group Ltd. in 2000. In 2001 the company launched Vector Tobacco Inc., a subsidiary charged with the development of low- and no-nicotine products, of which LeBow was president and chief executive officer (2001–07). He was also chairman of the board (1988–2005) and chief executive officer (1994–2005) of another Vector subsidiary, the New Valley Corporation. From January 2006 until his retirement in late 2008, LeBow served as executive chairman of Vector Group Ltd. He was thereafter a private investor with the company. He was honoured in 1998 by his alma mater, Drexel University, when the school renamed their business college the LeBow College of Business.