who the hell hired this guy
Tobacco CEO quits Dana-Farber board
By Raja Mishra, Globe Staff | March 8, 2005
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."