Posted on 12/05/2005 9:24:37 AM PST by NormsRevenge
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Peter E. Haas Sr., an heir of Levi Strauss & Co. who helped build the jeans company into a socially conscious clothing empire, has died. He was 86.
Haas died of natural causes Saturday in his San Francisco home, company spokesman Jeff Beckman said Sunday.
A great-grandnephew of Levi Strauss, Haas continued the tradition of the jeans pioneer, teaming up with his older brother, Walter A. Haas Jr., to transform the small maker of Western apparel into one of the world's most famous clothing brands during his 60-year career with the company.
"Throughout his career and in his personal life, my uncle Peter distinguished himself with his strong values and generosity," Levi Strauss board chairman Robert D. Haas said in a statement Sunday. "His business accomplishments are a testament to his belief that you can both operate a successful company and have a positive impact on the community."
As president of the company, Haas was a strong proponent of corporate social responsibility and worked toward racial desegregation of apparel factories during the late 1940s and 1950s. When the company sought to expand its operations to the South, Haas told local officials that Levi Strauss would only open manufacturing plants there if blacks were granted equal status with whites in the factories.
His work in equal opportunity led to his appointment to San Francisco's Fair Employment Practices Commission - the state's first - by former Mayor George Christopher.
"What I learned from Peter is you can win without compromising your integrity, self-respect and the things you most believe in," San Francisco businessman and philanthropist Warren Hellman, a lifelong friend of Haas, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Born in 1918, Haas was the second of three children of Elise Stern Haas and Walter A. Haas Sr., who like his father and great-uncle before him, was president of Levi Strauss.
A young Peter Haas initially resisted joined the family business, dreaming instead of becoming an engineer. He pursued that passion for two years at the University of California, Berkeley, before switching his major and graduating with an economics degree in 1940.
Rejected from the military during World War II because of poor eyesight, Haas instead entered Harvard Business School. After graduating in 1943, he worked for a defense contractor, Hammond Aircraft, where he met his first wife, Josephine Baum.
The couple married in 1945, the same year Haas returned to the family business.
Haas and his brother, Walter, took over Levi Strauss in 1958. Five year earlier, Time magazine had named the brothers "Leaders of Tomorrow."
Under their leadership, Levi Strauss capitalized on post-war demographic changes, marketing an extended line of blue jeans to young people.
By 1971, when the company went public, Levi Strauss had nearly 20,000 employees worldwide and annual sales of $405 million. The company has since gone private again.
Also a well-known philanthropist, Haas was active in the United Way, and he and his second wife, Miriam, gave millions to support the arts, public policy programs and health and human services.
Haas also served as president of San Francisco Aid for Retarded Children, a group that was close to his heart as a parent of a developmentally disabled son.
Haas, an active alumnus of UC Berkeley, was an avid donor and fundraiser for the school. In 1989, he and his siblings gave $27 million to name the Haas School of Business in honor of their late father, who also graduated from the university.
"Each succeeding generation of the family has been enormously supportive of Cal, but none more generous - in spirit and in practice - than Peter," UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau said in a statement. "His genuine humility, his pervasive concern for others, and his determination to improve the world were central to who he was."
Despite a stroke that kept him in a wheelchair in his later years, Haas remained active in his family's philanthropic efforts.
Haas is survived by his second wife, Miriam; two stepsons, Ari Lurie and Daniel Lurie; and three children from his first marriage, Peter Haas Jr., Michael Haas and Margaret Haas.
A memorial service was scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco. The family planned a private interment.
I havent worn there product for years...since they bum-rushed the Boy Scouts of America and backed the million mom march.
I wear Wrangles currently, even though Levi's fit me better.
Good
"Socially conscious" translate into support for widespread abortion, rampant homosexuality and fierce oppostion to our 2nd Amendments. Have I missed anything? Haven't spent a dime on their jeans in more years than I can count and I wear jeans daily.
Levi Strauss is so touchy feely that when they had a layoff some years ago, they had groups of employees decide who among them would be given the kick in the behind! Lovely, ain't it?
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Yeah, and a third reason I switched from Levi's to Wrangler is I heard they closed their last American manufacturing facility. I don't think you can by American made Levi's anymore.
Ayn Rand had that happen in "Atlas Shrugged".
Yep, I quit wearing Levis, which I loved, as soon as I learned that they were part of the drive to push the country leftwards. Am wearing Wranglers now myself. At least they are cheaper.
I heard a rumor that instead of a lid, his casket will have a zipper.
Levis.... favored by queers around the world.
Hate to break it to you, but Wranglers are made in Mexico, now. Fabric used to be made in America, though, but I'm not sure if it still is.
Gets my dander up to see Wrangler commercials that wrap themselves in the American Flag, for a product that's not made here.
I still wear 'em. They fit and are a good product. And, the only jeans that I know of that are still 100% American made are from a small outfit in Texas. I think the brand is 'Lone Star', or something like that.
Zipper!! LMAO. . . just the right humor to finish off a day!
Well, the Wrangler 13MWZ I'm wearing right now state Made in USA on the inside label. They are less than a year old.
In 1992, I worked for an Annapolis, MD-based telemarketing firm that handled the mail and calls for Levi, when they quit supporting the Boy Scouts.
Anyone who sent a letter or called Levi to voice their opinion, I can tell you first hand, I was the only voice that heard and agreed with you. Otherwise it fell on deaf ears.
I think I still have the brochure I received that explained how homosexuality is an unhealthy practice. (One odd thing about the brochure is how it made the claim that the one homo practice of intercourse that heteros could participate in was healthy for heteros but unhealthy for homos.)
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