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Procter & Gamble CEO, John G. Smale, Dies

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Procter & GambleFormer Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) Chief Executive Officer, John G. Smale, who led the company through a period of tremendous expansion died at the age of 84 on Saturday, at his home in Cincinnati.

John G. Smale led the company from 1981 to 1990, he died due to complications of pulmonary fibrosis.. In this period the company doubled its sales to over $24 billion and profits to $1.6 billion, also expanded into 23 new countries across the globe and launched 15 new product categories.

Smale was also a former chairman for General Motors and facilitated a turnaround for the Detroit automobile giant. He did after overseeing a range of major acquisitions, including the purchase of Richardson Vicks in 1985, the deal was worth about $1.2 billion. The largest deal in the history of  Procter and Gamble at that time, which brought well known brands to the company like Vicks cold medicine, Pantene shampoo and Olay skin care products.


Smale, who also served as the Chairman, joined the company in 1952 after responding to a newspaper advertisement in Chicago which was looking for brand managers. Starting with the dental and toilet goods division at that time, later he was credited with convincing the American Dental Association to endorse the new product “Crest” toothpaste.

Crest went on to become one of the best selling products of the company bringing smale into the limelight. In addition to his lauded sense of business, those who have worked with smale in and outside the company remembered him as a kind and a humble person.

Smale was still chief executive of Procter & Gamble, when he was appointed to the board of General Motors in 1982. During his service as G.M.’s chairman, he helped the automaker from the edge of bankruptcy to a state of profitability. His tenure ended at G.M in 1995. Smale also established management techniques from Procter & Gamble, reorganizing balkanized management structure and pushing its brands for more marketing.

John Gray Smale was born in Listowel, Ontario, in 1927 and grew up in Elmhurst, Ill. He graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 1949. He helped pay for his education by writing 2 books, which he sold to sororities and fraternities across the country.

His wife died at 56 in 2006. Smale had a twin sister and she passed away in 2000. He is survived by four children. Smale was a well know figure in Cincinnati’s philanthropic and civic circles.

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edliston
Post Written By: Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.


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Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

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