Alfred Steele

For the American Baptist clergyman and politician in New Jersey, see Alfred E. Steele.

Alfred Nu Steele
Joan Crawford and Alfred Steele returning from their European honeymoon on August 1, 1955.
Born	(1901-04-24)April 24, 1901 Nashville, Tennessee, US
Died	April 19, 1959(1959-04-19) (aged 58) New York City, US
Resting place	Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum in Hartsdale, Westchester, New York, US
Education	Northwestern University
Occupation	Businessman
Spouse	Marjorie Mabel Garvey ​ ​ (m. 1929)​ Lillian Nelson ​ (m. 1946)​ Joan Crawford ​ (m. 1955)​

Alfred Nu Steele (April 24, 1901 – April 19, 1959) was an American soft drink businessman most known for being the CEO of Pepsi-Cola Company from 1950 until his sudden death in 1959.

Personal life

Alfred Nu Steele was born on April 25, 1901, in Nashville, Tennessee. He was the son of Edgar Alfred Steele, a teacher, and his wife Fannie Bartrem. His middle name "Nu" was an homage to his father's fraternity "Sigma Nu". The family would later move to Missouri. Steele graduated from Northwestern University in 1923, where he played football, and became an ad executive after college.

His first marriage was to Marjorie Mabel Garvey on December 17, 1924, in Cook County, Illinois. They had one child named Sally Ostin Steele but divorced in 1945. He would later remarry Lillian Nelson in 1946 and they had a son named Alfred Nelson Steele in 1949. His son would go on to marry a woman named Madeline Spence Haldeman in Montana. They divorced in 1955.

Steele’s third wife was American film actress Joan Crawford — he was her fourth husband. They married spontaneously on May 10, 1955, at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas at 2:10 am by Judge John Mendoza with close friends and business associates. He also took on the father role of her four adopted children, Christina, Christopher, and twins Cathy and Cynthia "Cindy". The family would be seen together at events throughout the marriage and go on vacation together. The twins grew closer to Steele, being listed as Cathy Crawford's father in her obituary in 2020.

Joan Crawford with their adopted twins Cathy and Cynthia "Cindy"

Herbert L. Barnet, Steele's handpicked successor as chairman and CEO, appointed Crawford to the board of directors after his death. In her later career, product placement for Pepsi was included in several films, including Strait-Jacket (1964) and Berserk! (1967). Crawford would remain on the board of directors of the Pepsi-Cola Company until 1973. “I thought I could be different, that I could have it all. And I did — for a little while — with Alfred,” said Joan Crawford after his death, “I’ll always treasure our brief time together.”

In 1956, the couple decided to move to New York, purchasing and merging two top-floor apartments at 2 East 70th Street into a spacious family penthouse featuring eight rooms (previously eight-teen in the two apartments) with many featuring Central Park views. Broadway columnists dubbed it "Taj Joan." While work was being completed, they stayed at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, if Steele wasn't busy traveling for Pepsi. Construction took a year to complete and cost $387,011.65 USD in 1958 ($4.06 million USD adjusted for inflation in 2023). The apartment was decorated by Crawford’s close friend and interior designer William Haines, totaling an extra $80,000.00 USD ($840,000.00 USD adjusted for inflation in 2023). The apartment was paid for by Pepsi-Cola company as a loan with 6% interest while renovations took place. The loan was repaid in full in 1958.

Career

Alfred Steele first worked for the Chicago Tribune, Standard Oil of Indiana, and D'arcy Advertising Company. Later, he was the vice president of marketing for The Coca-Cola Company.

By 1950, Pepsi's earnings had dropped 78%. In 1949, Alfred Steele took over as president, and later in 1950, he became CEO, appointing Herbert L. Barnet as the new president. In a five-year span, Alfred helped steer profits up 112% comparable to Coca-Cola which had only climbed 28%. Under his leadership, the company launched massive advertising campaigns and sales promotions, resulting in an incredible 11-fold increase in net earnings during the 1950s. Under his management, sales tripled between 1955 and 1957. As a result, Pepsi-Cola became the primary competitor to Coca-Cola.

Steele is also credited with helping push the change of the old slogan of "twice as much for a nickel, too" stating it was a liability to the company reducing it as the "poor man's Coca-Cola". He pushed for them to focus on quality, not quantity. Other initiatives for Pepsi were the adaptation of vending machines, expansion globally both for selling and producing and for the parent company to help arrange funds with banks for bottlers to buy equipment with no down payments. In 1957, Crawford and Steele both tour Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, on business for Pepsi-Cola’s recent expansion.

He also introduced new cost accounting methods at the company and helped bottlers purchase new trucks and equipment. Steele further reduced the sugar content and unsweetened the syrup of Pepsi products as well as introduced them to developing countries. Under Steele's leadership, Pepsi built a new headquarters at 500 Park Avenue in New York City.

One time during a meeting, a colleague suggested that he should use his wife’s star power to increase sales. He refused, but when Crawford heard this, she was happy to if it would benefit her husband. Steele once said "I hate to use my wife to help me sell, but let's face it—she does. On these trips most of our business is done through top officials of governments. At those high levels, Crawford is fabulous." Some credit this as one of the first instances to use celebrity power in order to sell products. According to a 1956 New York Times article: "Together [Alfred Steele and Joan Crawford] constitute one of the most successful teams in America's public and private life."

In 1957, an eleven-year-old boy named Chester Arnold Jr. was given 5 shares of Pepsi, but after watching The Solid Gold Cadillac he grew concerned with his common shares and the economy. The boy wrote a letter to the CEO of Pepsi-Cola, Alfred Steele, asking if he was “crooked like those people in the movie?” Steele wrote back, inviting him and his family to fly out to New York City to meet him and see the company himself. Steele supplied accommodations for the family at the Waldorf Astoria - where Steele and Crawford were also staying while they awaited renovations to finish on their penthouse. For three days, the family was shown around New York City and spent time with both Joan Crawford and Alfred Steele. They attend board meetings and were police escorted - in the same car as the Steele couple - to one of the most elaborate ribbon-cutting ceremonies Pepsi-Cola ever hosted at the time.

Death

Alfred Steele and Joan Crawford's grave at Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum

Alfred Steele, CEO of Pepsi-Cola, died of a heart attack on April 19, 1959. He was found on the floor by his wife, Joan Crawford, that morning who quickly phoned the doctor. She was in complete shock, covering him in blankets and yelling "Get warm, get warm!" Once the doctor arrived, he pronounced Steele dead of an instant heart attack. His death came as a shock to his colleagues, friends, and family, who praised him for his leadership and vision at Pepsi-Cola.

Steele’s funeral was held on April 22, 1959, at New York's St. Thomas Episcopal Church. Nearly 1200 people attended the funeral.

His remains were interred in Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum in Hartsdale, Westchester, New York. The two had their ashes interred in a crypt together upon Crawford's death in May 1977. His crypt marker incorrectly lists his middle initial as "M" for no explained reason.

4 years after Steele's death on January 8, 1961,Crawford and their twins Cathy and Cynthia "Cindy" unveiled a plaque honoring him at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Film and television appearances

Film and television appearances

Film	Year	Role	Notes
Hollywood Greats	1978	Self	(S2 E1) Archive footage
Joan Crawford: Always The Star	1996	Self	Archive footage
Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Star	2002	Self	Archive footage