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Bennett S. LeBow is the Executive Chairman of the Board of Vector Group. Mr. LeBow has been affiliated with the Company since 1986. Mr. LeBow also serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Vector Tobacco Inc., and as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of New Valley Corporation.
Mr. LeBow has a long history in the tobacco industry. In March 1996, under his leadership, Liggett Group broke ranks with the rest of the US tobacco industry and became the first tobacco company to settle smoking-related litigation. The Company made the landmark announcement that smoking is addictive and causes cancer and other health ailments, turned over long-secret tobacco industry documents, disclosed its ingredients, and testified against the industry. Mr. LeBow has also been a strong proponent of the national fight against underage smoking and has been influential in the movement to obtain full disclosure from the tobacco industry.
Before devoting himself completely to private business in 1968, Mr. LeBow served in the Pentagon, initially as a First Lieutenant and subsequently as a civilian, serving as assistant to the Assistant Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army. Mr. LeBow, is a 1960 graduate of Drexel University in Philadelphia, where he obtained a degree in electrical engineering. In 1998, he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science by Drexel, and Drexel's College of Business and Administration has been named in his honor. He has endowed the Bennett S. LeBow Engineering Center, a state-of-the-art facility that houses Drexel's College of Engineering. In addition, prior to entering the Army, Mr. LeBow, in the 1960's, entered a doctorate degree program at Princeton University, where he also taught logic design of computer systems. | 