Shepard Pollack, who had been president of Philip Morris USA and the American Express Life Assurance Co., died Dec. 24, 2012, after a fall. He was 83.
Pollack graduated from Harvard in 1949. He then worked as an adviser in President Truman’s White House from 1949 to 1953. For the 1953-54 school year, he was a graduate student at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School. He then worked for the Ford Motor Co. and the Curtiss-Wright Corp.
In 1959, Pollock joined Philip Morris USA and worked in finance, marketing, and advertising. In 1977, he became the chief financial officer, and was president and chief operating officer from 1979 to 1984. In New York, he served on the board of Carnegie Hall.
In 1985, Pollack moved to San Francisco to join the American Express Life Assurance Co., and was president and CEO until 1987. A lover of the theater, visual arts, and music, he considered Rome his second home and traveled there annually for more than 20 years. He was always active in good works on both coasts.
He is survived by Paulette Long, his wife of 22 years; her son; his three children with his former wife, Arlene Pollack; seven grandchildren; and two step-grandchildren.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.