Tobacco CEO quits Dana-Farber Cancer Institute board

[paineinthearse]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/03/08/tobacco_ceo_quits_dana_farber_board/

Tobacco CEO quits Dana-Farber board
By Raja Mishra, Globe Staff | March 8, 2005

Weeks after the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute quietly appointed a tobacco company chief executive to its board of trustees, the executive resigned from the board yesterday, after inquiries by the Globe. On Jan. 25, the cancer center appointed Bennett S. Le- Bow, chairman and chief executive of Vector Group Ltd. of Miami, the nation's fifth largest cigarette maker, to its board of trustees. Dana-Farber's Feb. 23 newsletter, which announced the appointment, described LeBow as a businessman and philanthropist, but did not mention LeBow's lengthy tobacco industry career.

Yesterday afternoon, after the Globe asked about the appointment, Dana-Farber announced that LeBow had resigned. "Mr. Lebow, not wishing to be a distraction to our work, has offered to resign this new appointment, and his resignation has been accepted by our board," said a statement released by Dana-Farber's president, Dr. Edward J. Benz Jr. "We did not intend his appointment to in any way be construed as an endorsement of the tobacco industry or tobacco consumption. We have led and continue to lead major research and outreach efforts in smoking cessation and cancer prevention."

Dana-Farber's 157 trustees are volunteers who help shape policy and guide business decisions for the institute, as well as assist in fund-raising. LeBow has made gifts to Dana-Farber to fund multiple myeloma research, though the institute would not say how much he has contributed. Trustees are typically business leaders, philanthropists, former patients, cancer advocates, and community leaders. They serve three-year terms and meet as a full board several times a year. No other tobacco executives serve on the board, according to Dana-Farber.

The institute declined to explain why LeBow's tobacco career was not mentioned in its public announcement of his appointment. While LeBow has run major tobacco companies for 19 years, Dana-Farber's Feb. 23 announcement said only: "Many of LeBow's early investments were in the computer industry and eventually expanded into other areas."

more.......

Raja Mishra can be reached at [e-mail].

[merwin]

1. Mental note... avoid that organization.

I can't support a cancer institute that would place a tobacco executive as the chief executive to its board of trustees.

[Divernan]

2. Not just "on the board" but CHIEF EXECUTIVE of the board!?!

And then covering up his tobacco connections? sounds like that Institute is another one of the tobacco industries' cover-up fronts - like their so-called concern about young people not starting to smoke (some TV spots), while simultaneously focusing their billboard cigarette ads as close as possible to lower income neighborhood schools.