David: Created page with " '''Laurence Alan Tisch''' (March 5, 1923 – November 15, 2003) was an American billionaire businessman and investor. He was the CEO of CBS television network from 1..."

2025-12-01T10:45:40Z

Created page with " '''Laurence Alan Tisch''' (March 5, 1923 – November 15, 2003) was an American billionaire businessman and investor. He was the CEO of CBS television network from 1..."

New page

'''Laurence Alan Tisch''' (March 5, 1923 – November 15, 2003) was an American billionaire businessman and investor. He was the CEO of [[CBS]] television network from 1986 to 1995. With his brother [[Preston Robert Tisch|Bob Tisch]], he was part owner of [[Loews Corporation]].

==Early life==
Tisch was born March 5, 1923, in [[Brooklyn]], New York, the son of Sadye (née Brenner) and Al Tisch.<ref name=NYTObit>{{Cite news|first=Jonathan |last=Kandell |title= Laurence A. Tisch, Investor Known for Saving CBS Inc. From Takeover, Dies at 80 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=November 16, 2003 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/16/business/laurence-a-tisch-investor-known-for-saving-cbs-inc-from-takeover-dies-at-80.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm }}</ref><ref name=Common>{{Cite web|first= Andrew|last=Tisch |authorlink= |title=My American Story |website=The Common Good|date=August 19, 2019|url=https://www.thecommongoodus.org/my-american-story-posts/my-american-story-andrew-tisch |accessdate=June 23, 2021 }}</ref> His father's parents had emigrated from Ukraine and his mother's parents from Poland.<ref name=Common/> He was of [[Jewish descent]].<ref name=Domhoff>{{Cite news|first1=G. William |last1=Domhoff |first2=Richard L. |last2=Zweigenhaft|authorlink= |title= Jews In The Corporate Establishment; Board Rooms, Clubs and Identity |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=April 24, 1983 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1983/04/24/business/jews-in-the-corporate-establishment-board-rooms-clubs-and-identity.html |accessdate=}}</ref> His father, a former All-American basketball player at the [[City University of New York]], owned a garment factory as well as two summer camps which his wife helped him run.<ref name=NYTObit/>

==Education and early career==
He graduated from [[New York University]] when he was just 18 and received a [[Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania|Penn Wharton]] MBA in industrial management by 20.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/alum_mag/issues/125anniversaryissue/tisch.html|title=Wharton Alumni Magazine: 125 Influential People and Ideas: Laurence A. Tisch|access-date=October 8, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080205022403/http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/alum_mag/issues/125anniversaryissue/tisch.html|archive-date=February 5, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1946, he made his first investment, purchasing a 300-room winter resort in [[Lakewood, New Jersey]] with $125,000 in seed money (roughly equivalent to $1.5 million at 2012 prices) from his parents.<ref name= BusinessInsider>[http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-the-tischs-2012-5?op=1 Business Insider: "The Tisch Dynasty: How Two Boys From Brooklyn Became The Biggest Name In New York"] by [[Linette Lopez]] May 9, 2012</ref><ref name=NYTObit /> Two years later, his brother [[Preston Robert Tisch|Bob]] joined him in the business, launching a lifelong partnership between the pair with Larry handling financial matters and Bob the overall management.<ref name=NYTObit />

Their first hotel was successful and over the next decade, the Tisch brothers bought a dozen hotels<ref name=NYTObit /> in [[Atlantic City, New Jersey|Atlantic City]] and the [[Catskill Mountains|Catskills]].

==Loews==
In 1960, using the proceeds from their hotel empire, Tisch gained control of [[Loews Cineplex Entertainment|Loews Theaters]], one of the largest movie house chains at the time, with Bob and Larry as co-chairmen of the company. They were attracted to Loews by its underlying real estate assets which they believed were undervalued. They were correct in this assumption and would later tear down many of the centrally located old theaters to build apartments and hotels reaping millions in profits.<ref name=NYTObit />

The pair soon diversified the business, successfully venturing into a variety of areas. In 1968, Loews acquired [[Lorillard]], the 5th largest tobacco company in the US at the time, which owned the popular brands [[Kent (cigarette)|Kent]], [[Newport (cigarette)|Newport]] and [[True (cigarette)|True]].<ref name=NYTObit /> In 1974, they purchased a controlling interest in the nearly bankrupt insurance company, [[CNA Financial Corporation]]. This too was successful and several years later it held an A+ credit rating. They also purchased the [[Bulova Watch Company]].<ref name=NYTObit />

Through acquisitions, Tisch built Loews' into a profitable conglomerate (with 14 hotels, 67 movie theaters, CNA Financial, Bulova, and Lorillard) with revenues increasing from $100 million in 1970 to more than $3 billion in 1980.<ref name=NYTObit />

In 2002, the year before Larry Tisch's death, the corporation had revenues of more than $17 billion and assets of more than $70 billion.<ref name=USATODAY>[http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-11-15-obit-tisch_x.htm USA Today: "Former CBS head Tisch dies at 80"] November 15, 2003</ref>

==CBS==
In 1986, [[CBS Inc.]] was the target of several hostile takeover attempts by the likes of [[Ted Turner]], [[Marvin Davis]], and [[Ivan Boesky]]. Tisch was invited by CBS to invest in the company so as to help stop the hostile advances.<ref name=NYTObit /> Tisch spent $750 million for a 24.9% stake in CBS and a seat on the board.<ref name=NYTObit /> Later, with the support of company patriarch [[William S. Paley]], he was named the company's president and CEO.

[[Image:Tisch foot stone.JPG|thumb|The footstone of Laurence Tisch]]
The Tisch era at CBS was marked by relentless cost-cutting: Tisch fired 230 out of 1,200 news employees and cut $30 million from the news division's budget.<ref name=NYTObit /> CBS divested itself of non-broadcast assets. In 1986, he sold the book publisher [[Holt, Rinehart and Winston]] to [[Harcourt Brace Jovanovich]] for $500 million; in 1987, he sold the CBS magazine division to Diamandis Communications; and also in 1987, he sold the [[Sony Music Entertainment|CBS Music Group]], the 2nd largest record company in the world at the time, to [[Sony]] for $2 billion.<ref name=NYTObit /> Westinghouse Electric bought CBS in 1995 for an estimated $5.4 billion, of which Tisch's ownership netted him $2 billion.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Douglas |last= Gomery|title=Tisch, Laurence, U.S. Media Mogul |website=[[The Museum of Broadcast Communications]]|url=https://museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=tischlauren |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101205012012/https://museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=tischlauren|archive-date= December 5, 2010}}</ref>

Although Tisch's decade long tenure at CBS was marked by a 15% annual increase in the value of its stock, CBS remained in third place out of the big three national networks. Tisch was criticized for not understanding the broadcast business, not diversifying the business after selling its non-broadcast assets, and poor performance of CBS relative to its peers. The network's low occurred on Tisch's watch in 1993, when the network refused to counter the upstart [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]]'s billion dollar bid for the rights to the [[National Football League|NFL]]'s [[National Football Conference|NFC]] package it held since 1956, resulting in the network losing its NFL rights until picking up the [[American Football Conference|AFC]] rights in 1998, and a number of [[1994–1996 United States broadcast television realignment|affiliates to depart the network for Fox]], leaving it to rebuild throughout the rest of the decade.

[[John Gutfreund]], CEO of [[Salomon Brothers]] compared him with [[William S. Paley|Bill Paley]], the founder of CBS: "Bill had a vision for the industry, for Larry, it is a business."<ref name=NYTObit />

==Philanthropy==
[[Image:Laurence Tisch.JPG|thumb|The grave of Laurence Tisch in [[Westchester Hills Cemetery]]]]
Tisch made major donations to the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], [[New York University]], the [[NYU Medical Center]] and the [[Wildlife Conservation Society]]. A $4.5 million gift created the Tisch Children's Zoo in [[Central Park]].<ref name=USATODAY />

From 1978 to 1998, Tisch was chairman of the board of trustees at [[New York University]] overseeing a [[United States dollar|$1 billion]] capital campaign and major improvements in the university. Tisch was also a former president of the [[United Jewish Appeal]] of New York.<ref name=USATODAY />

NYU's [[Tisch School of the Arts]] is named in honor of him and his brother Bob, who donated the funds necessary to buy a building for the school. Tisch's donations also provided funding for a professorship in law, which was established in 2010 and is held by noted legal scholar [[Richard Epstein]]. There is additionally a Tisch Hall at the Stern School of Business and a Tisch Hospital at the NYU Medical Center.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.stern.nyu.edu/experience-stern/about/history/timeline|title=NYU Stern {{!}} About Stern {{!}} Timeline of NYU Stern's History|website=www.stern.nyu.edu|access-date=June 10, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/02/magazine/what-s-in-a-name.html|title=What's in a Name?|first=Liz|last=Roman Gallese|date=April 2, 1989|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=June 10, 2016}}</ref>

The professorship for history and economics in [[Harvard University]] is named after him in recognition of his philanthropy to the school. The Laurence A. Tisch professor is [[Niall Ferguson]], a Scottish [[economic historian]].

==Family==
Tisch married [[Wilma Tisch|Wilma "Billie" Stein]] in 1948; they had four sons:<ref name=NYTObit/>
*[[Andrew Tisch|Andrew H. Tisch]]
*Daniel R. Tisch – runs a family fund, Mentor Partners, and sits on the [[New York University]] board.<ref>[http://observer.com/2006/12/the-tisch-family/ The New York Observer: "The Tisch Family" By Anna Schneider-Mayerson] December 18, 2006</ref> He is the father of [[David Tisch]].<ref>{{Cite news|title= Zara Zimmerman and David Tisch |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=November 4, 2012 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/fashion/weddings/zara-zimmerman-david-tisch-weddings.html?_r=0 |accessdate=February 26, 2016}}</ref>
*[[James S. Tisch]]. He is the father of New York City Police Commissioner [[Jessica Tisch]].
*Thomas Jonah Tisch – Works as a partner at FLF Associates, a private investment group in New York City. In 1985, he married Helen Vivian Scovell.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/17/style/nell-scovell-writer-marries-thomas-jonah-tisch.html "Nell Scovell, Writer, Marries Thomas Jonah Tisch"] The New York Times. June 17, 1985</ref>

All four boys went to [[Suffield Academy]] in Suffield, Connecticut.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.suffieldacademy.org/page/news-detail?pk=527008|title=Tisch Field House formally dedicated on May 1|date=May 1, 2009|website=Suffield Academy|access-date=January 2, 2020|archive-date=January 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117070047/https://www.suffieldacademy.org/page/news-detail?pk=527008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Death==
Laurence Tisch died of [[Esophageal cancer|gastroesophageal cancer]],<ref>[https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2004/06/28/374411/index.htm Like Father, Like Son], [[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]]</ref> aged 80, in 2003. He was interred at [[Westchester Hills Cemetery]] in [[Hastings-on-Hudson, New York]].

==External links==
*[http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/T/htmlT/tischlauren/tischlauren.htm TV Museum archive]
*[https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-11-15-obit-tisch_x.htm Tisch obit in ''USA Today'']
==Notes==

Laurence Tisch - Revision history

David: Created page with " '''Laurence Alan Tisch''' (March 5, 1923 – November 15, 2003) was an American billionaire businessman and investor. He was the CEO of CBS television network from 1..."