Business: Changes of the Week

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¶ Robert C. Kirkwood, 53, executive vice president since 1955 of F. W. Woolworth Co., largest U.S. variety-store chain (2,121 stores in the U.S., Canada and Cuba), was named president, succeeding James T. Leftwich, 69, who remains as chairman. Bob Kirkwood had decided on a career in pharmacy after high school, was lured away from a drugstore in his home town of Provo, Utah, by the glowing picture of dime-store opportunity painted by a local Woolworth manager. He started as a window trimmer, became a store manager in Denver at 20, soon proved to have the proper mixture for success: administrative talent with the ability to get along with people. He bossed stores in five cities across the nation, became manager of the Boston district before being called to Manhattan in 1954. ¶ George L. Cobb, 47, president of Zeller's Ltd., a Canadian variety-store chain affiliated with W. T. Grant Co., was appointed president of S. H. Kress & Co., sixth-largest U.S. variety-store chain (261 stores). He succeeds C. G. Trammell, who resigned in March with two vice presidents in an effort to avert a proxy fight threatened by the Kress Foundation, which holds 42% of Kress stock (TIME, March 3). Cobb was picked for the job by RCA Executive Committee Chairman Frank M. Folson, who took over as chairman of the Kress executive committee after the foundation forced a change in Kress policy in an effort to halt slipping sales. Born in Auburn, Me., Cobb attended the University of Maine ('35), worked for Montgomery Ward as regional catalog-order manager before joining W. T. Grant, where he rose to become store planning director. He joined Zeller's Ltd. as executive vice president in 1955, became president in September of the same year. As Kress president, his job will be to open more stores, build up sales by stocking a wider selection of merchandise. Says he: "The day when variety store meant only candy, toys and notions is finished."