Jeffrey Wigand

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Dr. Jeffrey Wigand (born December 17, 1942, New York City) was vice president of research and development at Brown & Williamson in Louisville, Kentucky and currently resides in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina where he spends his time and efforts on lectures around the world, as an expert witness and consultant for various tobacco issues, and on his non-profit organization, SMOKE-FREE KIDS, Inc., where he can concentrate on his efforts to keep teens from taking up the smoking habit.

He became known as a whistleblower when, on the CBS news program 60 Minutes, he exposed his company's practice of "impact boosting" — intentionally manipulating the effect of nicotine in cigarettes.

Wigand claimed that he was subsequently harassed and received anonymous threats on his life.

He was portrayed by Russell Crowe in the highly acclaimed film The Insider [1], directed by Michael Mann.

[edit] Biography

Jeffrey Wigand was born and grew up in the Bronx in a Roman Catholic^[1] family and later Pleasant Valley, New York. After a brief time in the military (including a short assignment in Vietnam) he earned a Master's and PhD from the University of New York at Buffalo. He met his first wife Linda in 1970 while attending a judo class. Shortly after their marriage Linda developed multiple sclerosis. They would eventually divorce.

Prior to working for Brown and Williamson Wigand worked for several health care companies including Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. In addition he was employed as general manager and marketing director at Union Carbide in Japan and as senior vice president at Technicon Instruments. While working at Johnson and Johnson he met his second wife Lucretia in 1981.

Wigand began work for Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation in January 1989 and on March 24, 1993 was fired. After this event he 'blew the whistle' on B&W who systematically destroyed his personal life. One and half years later Wigand began teaching high school at a salary 1/10th what he formerly received at B&W.