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Sidney E. Frank (October 2, 1919 – January 10, 2006) was an American businessman who became a billionaire through his savvy promotion of Grey Goose vodka and Jägermeister.
Frank was born in Montville, Connecticut, to Abraham and Sarah Frank. He grew up in Norwich and graduated from the Norwich Free Academy in 1937. He attended Brown University but left because he could only afford one year of tuition; later he made enormous gifts to the university to ensure that no student would ever be forced to leave Brown because of inability to pay again. During World War II, Frank worked for Pratt and Whitney as an aircraft engine mechanic in the South Pacific.
Frank's first wife, Louise Rosenstiel, was the daughter of Lewis Rosenstiel, the founder of Schenley Industries, a distiller and spirit importer. Frank joined Schenley after his marriage and rose to the company presidency, but was forced out in a family dispute in 1970.
In 1972 his wife died and he started his own company, Sidney Frank Importing Company, where he served as chairman and chief executive officer. The company is based in New Rochelle, New York, where Frank lived part of the year. (He also had a home in Rancho Santa Fe, California.)
Frank's first big success with his own company was with Jacques Cardin brandy, a brand he purchased from Seagram in 1979. In the 1980s, he obtained importing rights to Jägermeister and promoted it heavily, turning a specialty brand into a mainstream success. In 1997, he introduced Grey Goose vodka, made in France, and was so successful in promoting it that he sold the brand to Bacardi for $2 billion in June 2004.
Frank gave large bonuses to his employees and made a $120 million donation to Brown University in 2005, the ninth-largest philanthropic gift in that year. Forbes magazine ranked him the 185th richest man in America in its Forbes 400 list. In October 2005, Frank donated £500,000 to Bletchley Park Trust to fund a new Science Center dedicated to Alan Turing*. He also donated millions of dollars to his alma mater, Norwich Free Academy.
Frank died January 10, 2006 in San Diego, California at the age of 86 from heart failure. *
External links
Sources
- Diane Brady. "The Wily Fox Behind Grey Goose." Business Week. September 20, 2004. 71, 73.
- Frank J. Prial. "The Seller of the Goose That Laid a Golden Egg". New York Times. January 1, 2005. C1, C2.
- Matthew Miller. "The Bartender." Forbes. October 11, 2004. 68.
1919 births | 2006 deaths | Brown University alumni | People from Connecticut | American businesspeople
"Sidney Frank"