Alfred Steele

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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
DiedApril 19, 1959(1959-04-19) (aged 58)
New York City, US
Resting placeFerncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum in Hartsdale, Westchester, New York, US
EducationNorthwestern University
OccupationBusinessman
Spouse
Marjorie Mabel Garvey
​
​
(m. 1929)​
Lillian Nelson
​
(m. 1946)​
​
(m. 1955)​

Alfred Nu Steele (April 24, 1901 – April 19, 1959) was an American soft drink businessman most known for being the president and later chairman of the board 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.[1] His middle name "Nu" was an homage to his father's fraternity "Sigma Nu".[2] The family would later move to Missouri.[3] Steele graduated from Northwestern University in 1923, where he played football, and became an ad executive after college. He enjoyed jazz music.[4]

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. She attended the Spence School and the University of Colorado. Sally Steele married Lieutenant John D. Comer on November 29, 1955, at the MacArthur Chapel in Tokyo, Japan.[5]

Alfred Steele would later remarry Lillian Nelson in 1946 and they had a son named Alfred Nelson Steele in 1949. They divorced in 1955. His son would go on to marry a woman named Madeline Spence Haldeman in Montana.[6]

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. Judge John Mendoza officiated.[7][8] Steele took on the father role for Crawford's four adopted children - Christina, Christopher, and twins Cathy and Cynthia ("Cindy"). The family would be seen at events throughout the marriage and go on vacations together. The twins grew closer to Steele; he was listed as Cathy Crawford's father in her 2020 obituary.

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

Following Steele's death, Herbert L. Barnet, Steele's handpicked successor as chairman and CEO, appointed Crawford to the board of directors. 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 Pepsi-Cola board of directors until 1973. “I thought I could be different, that I could have it all," said Joan Crawford after Steele passed away. "And I did — for a little while — with Alfred. I’ll always treasure our brief time together.”[9]

In 1956, the couple moved to New York, purchasing and merging two top-floor apartments at 2 East 70th Street into a spacious eight-room family penthouse with views of Central Park.[9] Broadway columnists dubbed it "Taj Joan." While work was being completed, they stayed at the Waldorf Astoria. Construction took a year and cost $387,011.65 USD ($4.06 million USD adjusted for inflation in 2023[10]). The apartment was decorated by Crawford’s close friend, interior designer William Haines, totaling an extra $80,000.00 USD ($840,000.00 USD adjusted for inflation in 2023).[11] The apartment was paid for by Pepsi as a loan with 6% interest; the loan was repaid in 1958.

Career

Alfred Steele began as a geologist,[12] and went on to work for the Chicago Tribune, Standard Oil of Indiana, and D'arcy Advertising Company.

While working for the Union Bed & Spring Company, Steele conceived the "Sono-Meter", a device that measured the energy lost while people tossed and turned on an uncomfortable mattress. The company's sales increased 80% within nine months.[13]

Later, Steele became vice president of marketing for The Coca-Cola Company on June 14, 1945.[14][15] While at Coca-Cola, he earned the nickname "Pally" as he often remarked, "Let's try this out, Pally".[16]

In 1949, Alfred Steele took over as vice president of Pepsi-Cola, and later president on March 1, 1949,[17] and 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%. Steele defined his strategy as “Beat Coke”.[18] 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.[19]

While opening a plant in Atlanta, Steele remarked Coca-Cola was not Pepsi's biggest competitor, but rather tea and coffee were. "It's a tribute to the Coca-Cola Company that the number of its former employees are on the management team that is helping Pepsi-Cola move up."[20]

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 toured 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.[21]

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.[22] 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."[11] 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."[2]

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 attended 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.[23]

Alfred Steele was selected as chairman of the 1959 fund campaign of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society on November 6, 1958.[24] Though, passed away before the event. His wife, Joan Crawford, was named chairman in his place. The fund was renamed the "Alfred N. Steele Memorial Campaign for the MS Hope Chest."[25]

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 next to his bed 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.[26] His death came as a shock to his colleagues, friends, and family, who praised him for his leadership and vision at Pepsi-Cola.[27]

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.[28] His crypt marker incorrectly lists his middle initial as "M" for no explained reason.

Two 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.[29]

Film and television appearances

Film and television appearances[30]
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

References

  1. ^ "Alfred Nu Steele Birth Records". FamilySearch.
  2. ^ a b "No Question About It; Pepsi-Cola Has Bounce; One Reason: Former Coca-Cola Official Alfred N. Steele Outlook Was Grim in 1950--Concern Booming Now PEPSI-COLA SALES; NET BOUNCE ALSO". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
  3. ^ "Alfred Nu Steele in household of Edgar A Steele, 1910". FamilySearch.
  4. ^ Crawford, Christina (2017-11-21). Mommie Dearest. Open Road Media. ISBN 978-1-5040-4908-5.
  5. ^ "SALLY STEELE MARRIED; She Is Bride in Tokyo Chapel of Lieut. John D. Comer". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  6. ^ "Montana, U.S., Marriage Records, 1943-1988 for Alfred Nu Steele". www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
  7. ^ "JOAN CRAWFORD REWED; Married in Nevada to Alfred Steele, Head of Pepsi-Cola". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  8. ^ Denby, David (January 3, 2011). "Escape Artist: The Case for Joan Crawford". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  9. ^ a b "Joan Crawford and Husband Alfred Steele Had a Love For the Ages: 'We Were So Happy'". Yahoo Entertainment. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  10. ^ "Value of 1958 US Dollars today - Inflation Calculator". www.inflationtool.com. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  11. ^ a b "CORPORATIONS: Living It Up with Pepsi". Time. 1958-05-19. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  12. ^ Crawford, Christina (2017-11-21). Mommie Dearest. Open Road Media. ISBN 978-1-5040-4908-5.
  13. ^ Allen, Frederick (2015-10-27). Secret Formula: The Inside Story of How Coca-Cola Became the Best-Known Brand in the World. Open Road Media. ISBN 978-1-5040-1983-5.
  14. ^ Towers, Andrea (March 5, 2017). "What Happened To Alfred Steele? Joan Crawford's Husband Had A Tragic Passing". Bustle. Retrieved January 24, 2018.
  15. ^ "A.N. Steele Gets Coca-Cola Post". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  16. ^ Pendergrast, Mark (2013-05-14). For God, Country, and Coca-Cola. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-04699-7.
  17. ^ "STEELE TO GET $85,000; New Pepsi-Cola Official Also Agrees to Purchase Stock". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  18. ^ Grimm, Curtis M.; Lee, Hun; Smith, Ken G. (2006). Strategy As Action: Competitive Dynamics and Competitive Advantage. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-516144-1.
  19. ^ "PepsiCo, Inc. | History & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-04-21.
  20. ^ Pendergrast, Mark (2013-05-14). For God, Country, and Coca-Cola. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-04699-7.
  21. ^ "Pepsi-Co Building" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. June 20, 1995. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
  22. ^ Crawford, Joan (1962). A Portrait of Joan.
  23. ^ "Eye on GSO". O.Henry Magazine. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  24. ^ "Business Man Will Head Sclerosis Society Drive". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  25. ^ "Joan Crawford Heads Drive". The New York Times. Retrieved 2023-09-04.
  26. ^ Crawford, Joan (1962). A Portrait of Joan.
  27. ^ "What Happened To Alfred Steele? Joan Crawford's Husband Had A Tragic Passing". Bustle. Retrieved 2023-04-21.
  28. ^ Wilson, Scott (2016-08-19). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-2599-7.
  29. ^ "The Concluding Chapter of Crawford". www.theconcludingchapterofcrawford.com. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  30. ^ "Alfred Steele". IMDb. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
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