Transformative leaders pass away

The past year saw the passing of several leaders who played a key role in the grain-based foods industry during their careers.

Dwayne Andreas
Dwayne O. Andreas
 

 

In mid-November, Dwayne O. Andreas, longtime chief executive officer of Archer Daniels Midland Co. who was credited with transforming the company into an agribusiness powerhouse, died at the age of 98.

John Paterakis
John Paterakis
 

 

A month earlier, in October, John Paterakis, a Baltimore native who led H&S Bakery, the largest privately owned bakery, died from complications of myelodysplasia, a bone marrow disorder. He was 87 years old.

Gerard (William) Louis-Dreyfus
Gerard (William) Louis-Dreyfus
 

 

Gerard (William) Louis-Dreyfus, former chairman of Louis Dreyfus Co., died Sept. 16 at the age of 84. Mr. Louis-Dreyfus broadened the company’s role from grain trader to diversified trading house. According to the company’s history, Mr. Louis-Dreyfus took trading activities in a different direction to capitalize on arbitrage opportunities in a variety of commodity markets, including government bonds, rice, cotton and natural gas. During the 1970s and 1980s, he led the company’s move to extend its direct involvement in agricultural activities to cotton, sugar, citrus and coffee.