Laurence Alan Tisch (March 5, 1923 – November 15, 2003) was a Jewish
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
businessman,
Wall StreetWall Street is a street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. It runs east from Broadway to South Street on the East River, through the historical center of the Financial District. It is the first permanent home of the New York Stock Exchange; over time Wall Street became the...
investorAn investor is any party that makes an investment.The term has taken on a specific meaning in finance to describe the particular types of people and companies that regularly purchase equity or debt securities for financial gain in exchange for funding an expanding company...
and self-made
billionaireA billionaire is a person who has a net worth of at least one billion units of a currency, usually the US Dollar, Euro or the Pound. Forbes Magazine updates a complete list of US Dollar billionaires around the world every year.- Regions by net worth :...
. He was the CEO of
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
television network from 1986 to 1995. With his brother
Bob TischPreston Robert "Bob" Tisch was the chairman, and, with his brother Laurence, part owner of the Loews Corporation. Tisch was born in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn in 1926. On August 16, 1986, he was appointed Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service, serving until February 1988...
, he was part owner of the
Loews CorporationLoews Corporation is a holding company run by the Tisch Family whose subsidiaries are engaged in the following lines of business:*property and casualty insurance...
.
Tisch was widely criticized for his mismanagement of the
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
network and his involvement in the Brown and Williamson scandal (later portrayed in the film
The InsiderThe Insider is a 1999 film that tells the true story of a 60 Minutes television series, as seen through the eyes of a real tobacco executive, Jeffrey Wigand. The 60 Minutes story originally aired in November 1995 in an altered form because CBS' then-owner, Laurence Tisch, objected...
).
Laurence Alan Tisch (March 5, 1923 – November 15, 2003) was a Jewish
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
businessman,
Wall StreetWall Street is a street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. It runs east from Broadway to South Street on the East River, through the historical center of the Financial District. It is the first permanent home of the New York Stock Exchange; over time Wall Street became the...
investorAn investor is any party that makes an investment.The term has taken on a specific meaning in finance to describe the particular types of people and companies that regularly purchase equity or debt securities for financial gain in exchange for funding an expanding company...
and self-made
billionaireA billionaire is a person who has a net worth of at least one billion units of a currency, usually the US Dollar, Euro or the Pound. Forbes Magazine updates a complete list of US Dollar billionaires around the world every year.- Regions by net worth :...
. He was the CEO of
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
television network from 1986 to 1995. With his brother
Bob TischPreston Robert "Bob" Tisch was the chairman, and, with his brother Laurence, part owner of the Loews Corporation. Tisch was born in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn in 1926. On August 16, 1986, he was appointed Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service, serving until February 1988...
, he was part owner of the
Loews CorporationLoews Corporation is a holding company run by the Tisch Family whose subsidiaries are engaged in the following lines of business:*property and casualty insurance...
.
Tisch was widely criticized for his mismanagement of the
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
network and his involvement in the Brown and Williamson scandal (later portrayed in the film
The InsiderThe Insider is a 1999 film that tells the true story of a 60 Minutes television series, as seen through the eyes of a real tobacco executive, Jeffrey Wigand. The 60 Minutes story originally aired in November 1995 in an altered form because CBS' then-owner, Laurence Tisch, objected...
). Many journalistic veterans at
CBS NewsCBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. Its current president is Sean McManus who is also head of CBS Sports...
, including
Walter CronkiteWalter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
, accused Tisch of degrading journalistic standards in pursuit of higher profits. Critics have pointed out that Tisch's efforts to prevent the Brown and Williamson story from appearing on
60 Minutes60 Minutes is an American investigative television newsmagazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by long time producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation. It has been among the top-rated TV programs for much of its life,...
were likely driven by the financial windfall he stood to receive from the company's 1995 sale to Westinghouse Electric Corporation (and his unwillingness to jeopardize the sale, which ultimately netted him $2 billion), as well as the fact that Tisch's
Loews CorporationLoews Corporation is a holding company run by the Tisch Family whose subsidiaries are engaged in the following lines of business:*property and casualty insurance...
owned a major tobacco company,
Lorillard TobaccoLorillard Tobacco Company is the 18th oldest company in the United States and the nation's oldest tobacco company. They are the third largest American tobacco company and market cigarettes under the brand names Newport , Maverick, Old Gold, Kent, True, Satin, and Max...
.
Tisch served as chairman of the board of trustees at
NYUNew York University is a private, nonsectarian, research university in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
from 1978 to 1998, overseeing a
$The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
1 billion capital campaign and major improvements in the university. NYU's Tisch School of the Arts is named in his honor. Tisch was also a former president of the United Jewish Appeal of New York.
Early life and career
Tisch was born March 5, 1923 in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from
New York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian, research university in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
when he was just 18 and received a Wharton MBA in industrial management by 20. Just five years out of NYU he made his first investment, purchasing a 300-room winter resort in Lakewood, N.J. Two years later, his brother Bob joined him in the business, launching a lifelong partnership between the pair.
As the first hotel took off, the Tisch brothers bought hotels in
Atlantic CityAtlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. Famous for its boardwalk, casino gambling, sandy beaches, shopping centers, view of the Atlantic Ocean, and as the inspiration for the board game Monopoly, Atlantic City is a resort community located on Absecon Island on the...
and the
CatskillsThe Catskill Mountains, a natural area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
. Their hotel empire continued to expand, generating millions of dollars, and the Tisch brothers began investing in Loews Theaters.
Career at Loews
In 1961, Tisch gained control of
LoewsThe name Loews can refer to several articles in the Wikipedia:* Loews Theatres - Cinema chain* Loews Corporation - Holding company* Loews HotelsFor the nationwide chain of home improvement stores, see Lowe's...
and became its co-chairman with his brother. The pair soon diversified the business, successfully venturing into a variety of areas.
After he and his brother took over Loews, the company moved in a variety of directions. Loews acquired Lorillard, a tobacco company, and the Bulova Watch Co. Through acquisitions, Tisch built Loews' revenues from $100 million in 1970 to more than $3 billion by a decade later.
At Loews, Tisch oversaw a financial corporation with assets of over $70 billion, including a hotel chain, a
tobaccoTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines. In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking, chewing, snuffing, or...
company (Lorillard), an insurance firm (CNA Financial), and an offshore drilling company.
In 2002, the corporation had revenues of more than $17 billion and assets of more than $70 billion.
Career at CBS
In 1986, when CBS Inc. was the target of several hostile takeover attempts, Tisch stepped in to seize control by spending $800 million for a 24.9% stake of the company.
But the Tisch era was marked by cost-cutting and criticism that he had tarnished the network's reputation and damaged morale. CBS divested itself of non-broadcast assets including Holt, Rinehart and Winston (publishers) for $500M, and the CBS Music Group, which was sold to
Sonyis a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, and one of the world's largest media conglomerates with revenue exceeding ¥ 7.730.0 trillion, or $78.88 billion U.S. . Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video, communications, video game...
for $2 billion. Westinghouse Electric bought CBS in 1995 for an estimated $5.4B, of which Tisch's ownership netted him $2B.
Also under Tisch's watch, the "Tiffany Network" saw its
nightly newscastCBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
, once the dominant evening news source for many Americans fall to third place where it remains today and lost
NFLThe NFL on CBS is the brand name of the CBS television network's coverage of the National Football League's games wherein the road team is from the American Football Conference, produced by CBS Sports.-Market coverage:...
football to the upstart
Fox NetworkNFL on Fox is the brand name of the Fox Broadcasting Company's coverage of the National Football League's games wherein the road team is from the National Football Conference, produced by Fox Sports...
. CBS eventually got the NFL back in 1998 when
NBCNFL on NBC is the brand given to NBC Sports coverage of National Football League games until 1998, when NBC lost the NFL American Football Conference rights to CBS...
ended it's contract and CBS picked it up.
Philanthrophy
Tisch was also known for his
philanthropyPhilanthropy is the effort or inclination to increase the well-being of humankind, as by charitable aid or donations.- Definition :It is generally agreed that the word was coined 2500 years ago in ancient Greece, by the playwright Aeschylus, or whom ever else wrote Prometheus Bound...
, with major donations to the
Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, known colloquially as The Met, is an art museum located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile in New York City, USA. It has a permanent collection containing more than two million works of art, divided into nineteen curatorial...
, New York University, the NYU Medical Center and the
Wildlife Conservation SocietyThe Wildlife Conservation Society , formerly the New York Zoological Society , endeavors to save wildlife and wild lands though careful use of science, conservation around the world, education and through a system of urban wildlife parks...
. His $4.5 million gift to the latter created the Tisch Children's Zoo in
Central ParkCentral Park is a large public, urban park that occupies over a square mile in the heart of Manhattan in New York City. It is host to approximately twenty-five million visitors each year...
.
Honors
Laurence Tisch is interred at
Westchester Hills CemeteryThe Westchester Hills Cemetery, approximately 20 miles north of New York City, was established at 400 Saw Mill River Road in Hastings-on-Hudson, Westchester County, New York. It welcomes the burial of Christians and Jews, and many well-known entertainers and performers are interred there...
in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
External links