New Guard at Du Pont

Only three years ago, the biggest and oldest family-led company in America, E.I. du Pont de Nemours of Wilmington, Del., was hip-deep in family troubles. Chairman Lammot du Pont Copeland was bogged down in his son's spectacular personal bankruptcy and other problems, and Du Font's industrial stature was sliding. So "Mots" Copeland was eased aside for Charles

Brelsford McCoy, the first chief executive in the chemical giant's 171-year history to have no direct Du Pont family ties. Under "Brel" McCoy, profits rose smartly, from $334 million on sales of $3.6 billion in 1970 to $414 million on sales of $4.4 billion last year.

Last week McCoy, with the approval of Du Font's board (only a third of its present 27 members have family connections), promoted two nonfamily executives to positions that put them in line to take over when the chairman reaches the mandatory retirement age of 65 next April. Senior Vice President Irving S. Shapiro, who moved up to the new position of vice chairman of the board, is now officially No. 2 in the Du Pont hierarchy, and heir to the chief executive's job. Edward R. Kane, another senior vice president, was appointed president, and will provide the other part of a two-man top management team after McCoy leaves.

A colleague describes Shapiro and Kane as "a finely matched pair of big guns." But they work with sharply contrasting styles. Upon announcement of their promotions, Shapiro uncorked a bottle of champagne; Kane looked for a tennis game.

Kane, 54, earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from M.l.T. in 1943, joined Du Pont the same year, and rose through the company's textile branches. Shapiro, 57, is a courtly lawyer. He will become the first chief of Du Pont who is neither a chemist nor engineer, and has not spent his full career with the company.

"Mine is the typical American story," says Shapiro. Son of Lithuanian immigrants, he worked in his family's small cleaning plant in Minneapolis, used loans to go through the University of Minnesota Law School ('41). He joined the Office of Price Administration in World War II, worked side by side with another lawyer, Richard Nixon. Recalls Shapiro: "He was a pleasant guy who got along with people."

Later Shapiro made a name for himself as a Justice Department lawyer, prosecuting Communist leaders. He joined Du Pont in 1951 because "Du Pont was an exciting place to be in business, despite its conservative aura at the time." Shapiro won his stripes by directing its epic battle with the Justice Department over divestiture of the company's General Motors stock--a struggle that finally ended in 1965 with Du Pont losing the antitrust action but disposing of the stock on favorable terms. Lately Shapiro has been the company's key negotiator in Securities and Exchange Commission hearings on Du Font's plan to merge with and dissolve Christiana Securities, the Du Pont family holding company--a move that would further reduce family influence.

In addition Shapiro has helped the company demonstrate greater community concern. Along with Chairman McCoy, he was largely responsible for Du Font's putting up incentive money for the rehabilitation of run-down housing in Wilmington, and for offering Du Pont attorneys as Legal Aid defense lawyers. Shapiro himself is active in the Urban Coalition, the United Fund and local Jewish charities.

He describes himself as McCoy's "alter ego," and the two have worked closely together in making cutbacks in both personnel and prices that have brought Du Pont out of the doldrums.

All in all, some insiders say that Shapiro "has done more for the Du Pont Co. than anyone since Thomas Jefferson," who gave the firm its first large gunpowder order.

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