Louis A.
Bantle

Louis A. Bantle is the
father of Louis F. Bantle, who attended the Whitman School of Management at
Syracuse University in 1951, graduating with a degree in business
administration.
Louis F. Bantle began his
business career in Greenwich, Connecticut as an advertising manager for U.S.
Tobacco (UST), which is known for its smokeless tobacco brands Skoal and
Copenhagen. By 1967, Bantle was elected vice president of marketing and a
member of the board of directors. Six years later, he rose to chairman of the board
and president and, later, CEO, until his retirement in 1993.
Notably, Mr. Bantle was also
a philanthropist and humanitarian who drove social change on both international
and American soil. In 1996, he founded and funded the International Institute for
Alcohol Education and Training (IIAET) and its Center for Healing—the House of
Hope—in St. Petersburg, which introduced Alcoholics Anonymous to Russia. Bantle
and his wife, Virginia, were pioneers in helping establish both The Miami
Project to Cure Paralysis and The Buoniconti Fund in the quest to find a cure
for paralysis and treat spinal cord injuries. Mr. Bantle also helped to develop
one of the nation’s most successful and replicated Explorer Programs: the
Explorer Post 53 Ambulance Corps.
In 1994, he was named the
Whitman School of Management Alumnus of the Year and was awarded an Honorary
Doctor of Humane Letters. Mr. Bantle’s legacy at Syracuse University lives on
through two endowed faculty Chairs and several scholarships.