Sidney Frank
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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 a Jewish family; his father and mother were Abraham and Sarah Frank. He grew up in Norwich and graduated from the Norwich Free Academy in 1937. He attended Brown University (class of 1942) 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. Brown University named its new Life Sciences building (its largest capital project up to date) after Sidney Frank, the single most generous donor in the University's history. 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, one of the largest American distiller and spirit importers. 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, advertising it as the best drink in the world, 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[1] and, as a great supporter of RJ Mitchell's Spitfire, he funded a website dedicated to Mitchell's life - RJ Mitchell. A life in aviation. 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. [2]
[edit] External links
- Sidney Frank Importing Co., Inc.
- Jager (USA).
- Tap Machine, Inc.
- Grey Goose Vodka
- The Cocktail Creationist
