Business: Hopson Out?

Harassed by lawsuits, investigations and public suspicion, Howard Colwell Hopson, 53, resigned as officer and director of all Associated Gas & Electric units. Though usually listed in Associated reports as vice president & treasurer, the bald, roly-poly utilitarian with the flair for corporate obscurantism was the system's undisputed boss. He, not President John Isaac Mange, was the quarry in the Washington manhunts staged last summer by rival and Senate inquisitors (TIME, July 29, et seq.)

Ostensible reason for Mr. Hopson's retirement was poor health. Testifying in Washington, an Associated lobbyist once declared: "I've...