| Eli M. Black |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT ELI M. BLACK | |
| 1920s births | |
| black, eli m. | |
| 1975 deaths | |
| businesspeople who committed suicide | |
| american businesspeople | |
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Born Elihu Menashe Blachowitz in Poland , he came to America as a child. He was a rabbi, but left the synagogue after three and a half years to enter business. He was a successful investment banker and in 1954 , he was named president of the American Seal-Kap Company . American Seal Kap made the plastic liners in bottle caps, but Black turned it into a vehicle for acquisitions. He renamed the company AMK after its ticker symbol and jumped on the Conglomerate bandwagon of the 1960s . Among his acquisitions was the John Morrell meatpacking company. In 1969 , he took over United Fruit Company and renamed his company United Brands. United Fruit was not a successful acquisition because the company had far less cash than Black thought. Black was not a good manager and his company became crippled with debt. The company's losses were exacerbated by a Hurricane in 1974 that destroyed its Banana plantations in Honduras . In 1975 , he went to his office on the forty-fourth floor of the Pan Am Building in Manhattan , bashed out the window with his briefcase, and jumped to his death on Park Avenue. He was 53. REFERENCES
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