Robert B. Shapiro, a rude former law professor, performed a marketing miracle by branding aspartame as a sugar substitute, becoming an executive at a company that made the common name consumers requested in thousands of products, passed away on May 2nd at his Chicago home. He was 86 years old.
The cause was pancreatic cancer, his son James Shapiro said.
Aspartame was invented in 1965 by a chemist at Illinois pharmaceutical company GD Searle, and in 1983, the Food and Drug Administration approved its use in soft drinks a year after Shapiro became CEO and chairman of what had already been called a subsidiary of Nutrasweet.
Unlike its main rival, saccharin, aspartame, which dominated the market for 25 years after its approval, did not leave a bitter aftertaste and was not suspected to be associated with cancer. (However, in 2023, the World Health Organization identified as “carcinogenic” based on “limited evidence.”) It is virtually calorie-free and despite its brand name, it has virtually no significant nutritional value.
In 1985, Sarle sold aspartame worth $700 million. It was identified as a nutrient by its tiny but distinctive red and white swirl logos that appeared in packaging for food and drink products that appeal to diets and other consumers who wanted to avoid sugar.
“Shapiro builds a marketing campaign around its trademarks and convinces me that Nutrasweet (and the exact same sweeteners in other company versions) is the key to losing weight,” writes Daniel Charles in “The Lord of Harvest: The Future of Biotechnology, Big Money, Food” (2001).
Jesse Myers, publisher of Industry New York's Beverage Digest, won the “Book of Business History” location in 1989 by Jesse Myers, publisher of the New York Times.
Federal authorities approved Simplesse, a fat replacement developed by Nutrasweet, in 1988 as an ingredient in frozen desserts and later in other products.
Searle was acquired by Monsanto in 1985. Shapiro was appointed president of the parent company in 1993 and chief executive officer in 1995.
Shapiro and his colleagues argued that biotechnology products created by the company would reduce the need for pesticides and weed control, expand food supplies and reduce the amount of land needed for agriculture.
When Shapiro became Monsanto's CEO, “he took the company's serious commitment to biotechnology, both psychologically and financially, to a whole new level,” wrote Rachel Schulman and William A. Munro in “The Battle for the Future of Activists and Agribusie in the Fighting against Biotechnology” (2010).
“Shapiro was a compelling, inspiring and motivating leader across all accounts,” the author added. “Indeed, Monsanto employees described him as “foreigner,” and wiped out people with his greater sense of purpose and a broader perspective on technology. ”
However, environmental critics accused Monsanto of tampering with nature by creating potentially dangerous vegetation and monopolizing the seed market. The company quickly realized it was struggling in the face of legal challenges, regulatory arbitrages and disadvantaged public opinion in the US and Europe.
“Looking back, it seems incredibly naive,” Shapiro said, but “We painted a big bull's eye on our chest.”
In a video address to the environmental advocacy group Greenpeace in 1999, Shapiro admitted:
William C. Miller admitted in his book The Flash of Brilliance: Inspire the Creativity You Work (1998), “Some of Monsanto's products are controversial.” But he said, “What you can't argue about Bob Shapiro is that in his belief system he is absolutely loyal to think that as the world's population explodes from 6 billion to 10 billion, it's a way to deal with hunger and nutrition.”
Robert Bernard Shapiro was born in Manhattan on August 4, 1938. His father, Moses Shapiro, was chairman and chief executive of General Instruments at Electronics Company. His mother, Lily (Langsham) Shapiro, worked for ASCAP, a music licensing organization.
He attended Horaceman School in the Bronx, earning his bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1959, and in 1962 he studied English and history from Columbia Law School and earned his law degree.
Shapiro practiced law in New York (he represented rental strikers at no charge, including East Harlem and the poet Allen Ginsburg), and taught at Columbia Law School, the University of Wisconsin and Northeastern University. He was a lawyer for the US Transportation Agency during the Johnson administration and worked as a vice president and lawyer from 1972 to 1979.
He joined Searle in 1979. After Monsanto merged with Drugs and Upjon in 1999, he served as chairman of Pharmacia Corporation until early 2001.
A liberal Democrat who has no formal training in science, Shapiro was more comfortable playing a casual university professor than a powerful lawyer. He offered employees a free silent meditation retreat and played as a folk guitarist. (His children, Nina and James, were in the alternative rock band Veruca Salt in the 1990s.)
After resigning as chairman of Pharmacia Corporation, he was the founder of Sandbox Industries, a venture capital firm. He was also an early board member of Theranos, a blood testing company founded by Elizabeth Holmes, and was later convicted of fraud.
In addition to his son James and daughter Nina Gordon, both survived from their marriage to Berta Gordon by his wife Ginger Farley. From her marriage to Kemery Bloom, Kai and Gabe Shapiro have two children. his stepchildren, Harley Mac Sionaoda and Lydia Link; his sister, Susan Garfield; his brother, Bill Shapiro; and four grandchildren.
“We went from our confidence in technology,” Shapiro said of Monsanto in a 1999 interview with the Wall Street Journal.
