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.