New Boss for Lever

In his office in Racine, Wis., Jervis J. Babb, executive vice president of S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. (floor wax), got an unexpected phone call from New York City. Sir Geoffrey Heyworth, chairman of the global Unilever soap empire, had never met Jerry Babb, but he wanted to. Would Mr. Babb have lunch in Chicago that week with him and Paul Rykens, boss of Unilever's Dutch affiliate?

At the luncheon, Sir Geoffrey and Rykens politely questioned Babb about his background. "But it was plain," Babb related afterward, "that they already knew everything about me. So I wasn't sure what was up." Next day Babb found out. He was asked if he would like to be president of Unilever's U.S. subsidiary, Lever Bros.--a job which has been vacant ever since Lever Bros, and Charles Luckman parted company three months ago (TIME, Jan. 30).

No One-Man Show. This time the British made sure that Lever Bros, would not be a one-man show as it had been under Chuck Luckman. In as chairman of the board with new President Babb went grey-thatched John M. Hancock, 67, Lehman Bros, partner, chairman of Chicago's Jewel Tea Co., crack corporate troubleshooter and longtime associate of Bernard Baruch. Franklin J. Lunding, 44, Jewel's president and a protege of Hancock's who, according to gossip, had turned down the Lever presidency before it was offered to Babb, was made chairman of Lever's executive committee. Though Babb would run Lever, Hancock, Lunding and five others on the new board of directors would be looking over his shoulder.

If Unilever had deliberately sought the antithesis of spotlight-hungry Chuck Luckman, Jerry Babb was indeed their man. He was not only unknown to most businessmen, he was also almost unknown in Racine. He had taken part in no civic affairs, had spent his spare time playing golf (low 80s), and bridge. Commuting to work from his suburban home, he often plays cribbage on the train.

Rolling Stone. At 48, Jerry Babb has tried his hand at many things. After finishing Haverford (Pa.) College and spending two years at Harvard's Business School, he worked in General Electric's merchandising division, was a salesman for a printing company, an industrial field researcher for the New England Council, a sales research and promotion expert for Standard Oil Co. of Indiana. After six years with Standard, he became a professional management adviser, and joined Chicago's Booth Fisheries where he was general manager when he left to go to work as executive vice president for Johnson in 1944.

Babb has no delusions about the toughness of his new job. He knows that Lever Bros., caught napping in the booming field of detergents, had also been demoralized by Luckman's ruthless head-chopping, and had slipped competitively far behind Procter & Gamble (TIME, May 8). Said Babb bravely: "Some people hate being in a tight spot. They like things to go well and to be confronted with no difficulties. I like things hard." Nobody doubted that he would find them that way at Lever Bros.

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