Tobacco CEO quits Dana-Farber board

Weeks after the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute quietly appointed a tobacco company chief executive to its board of trustees, the executive resigned from the board yesterday, after inquiries by the Globe.

On Jan. 25, the cancer center appointed Bennett S. Le- Bow, chairman and chief executive of Vector Group Ltd. of Miami, the nation's fifth largest cigarette maker, to its board of trustees. Dana-Farber's Feb. 23 newsletter, which announced the appointment, described LeBow as a businessman and philanthropist, but did not mention LeBow's lengthy tobacco industry career.

Yesterday afternoon, after the Globe asked about the appointment, Dana-Farber announced that LeBow had resigned.

"Mr. Lebow, not wishing to be a distraction to our work, has offered to resign this new appointment, and his resignation has been accepted by our board," said a statement released by Dana-Farber's president, Dr. Edward J. Benz Jr. "We did not intend his appointment to in any way be construed as an endorsement of the tobacco industry or tobacco consumption.

We have led and continue to lead major research and outreach efforts in smoking cessation and cancer prevention."

Dana-Farber's 157 trustees are volunteers who help shape policy and guide business decisions for the institute, as well as assist in fund-raising. LeBow has made gifts to Dana-Farber to fund multiple myeloma research, though the institute would not say how much he has contributed.

Trustees are typically business leaders, philanthropists, former patients, cancer advocates, and community leaders. They serve three-year terms and meet as a full board several times a year. No other tobacco executives serve on the board, according to Dana-Farber.

The institute declined to explain why LeBow's tobacco career was not mentioned in its public announcement of his appointment.

While LeBow has run major tobacco companies for 19 years, Dana-Farber's Feb. 23 announcement said only: "Many of LeBow's early investments were in the computer industry and eventually expanded into other areas."

In 1986, LeBow, a corporate turnaround specialist, acquired the Liggett Group Inc. cigarette company, maker of L&M, Lark, and Chesterfield brands. Currently, his firm -- the Vector Group, which runs Liggett among other subsidiaries -- sells cut-price cigarettes, as well as low-nicotine and nicotine-free cigarettes. In 2003, it sold about 9.8 billion cigarettes, about 2.4 percent of the total sold in the United States that year, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Paul Caminiti, a spokeman for LeBow, said yesterday, "Mr. LeBow strongly believes in Dana-Farber and their mission, and he will continue to support cancer research."

Antitobacco activists were dismayed by the appointment when told yesterday.

"LeBow's products are responsible for some of Dana-Farber's patients," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco- Free Kids. "It's an appointment that on its face is inconsistent with the mission of the organization."

Dana-Farber researchers and officials have long been outspoken about the dangers of tobacco use.

Cigarette smoking accounts for nearly one-third of all cancer deaths and is a major cause of cancers of the lung, larynx, mouth, throat, and esophagus, as well as a risk factor for colon, liver, pancreas, and at least five other major cancer types, according to the American Cancer Society. Smoking causes more than 90 percent of lung cancers, which kill more than 150,000 Americans annually.

Other activists were similarly dumbfounded at the appointment.

"He's still very much in the cigarette business, selling carcinogenic and deadly products," said Northeastern University law professor Richard Daynard, president of the Tobacco Control Resources Center. "It's troubling for a leading cancer center to put on the board somebody whose bread and butter involves causing cancer."

Daynard and other tobacco critics said LeBow is one of the more controversial figures in the industry.

In 1996, as head of Liggett, he settled health-related lawsuits filed by state attorneys general against the nation's major tobacco makers. In the process, LeBow admitted that tobacco was a cancer risk, which other tobacco executives would not. And LeBow turned over thousands of internal company documents that helped prosecutors build their case against other companies, which continued to fight the lawsuit.

In settling the case, LeBow won a provision allowing his firm to largely avoid the massive payouts forced on other companies. He began using this provision to appeal to investors, arguing it gave Liggett a competitive advantage, according to SEC documents.

LeBow's current firm, the Vector Group, sells tobacco through two subsidiaries, Liggett and Vector Tobacco. Most of its sales, through Liggett, are cheaply priced brands like Liggett Select, Pyramid, Jade, and Eve. Liggett no longer makes L&M, Lark, or Chester field.

The Vector Tobacco operation has been less successful. In 2001, it introduced Omni cigarettes, advertised as healthier smokes. The brand sold poorly, and the firm stopped marketing it.

More recently, Vector launched low-nicotine and nicotine-free Quest cigarettes in seven states.

But by 2004, with poor sales, the firm has not sold the brand nationally, according to SEC documents.

Last month, LeBow took the stand in a massive federal lawsuit filed against tobacco firms by the US Justice Department. According to the Reuters news service, he testi fied that he had recently changed his views about studies showing smoking causes lung cancer.

Raja Mishra can be reached at rmishra@globe.com.