CORPORATIONS: Moving Down at Du Pont

• Share

The monthly meetings of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. board, nine of whose 24 members reside in the House of Du Pont through bloodline or marriage, tend to be family as well as corporate councils. At last week's session, family scandal and a series of reverses in the company's fortunes combined to cause change at the top of the world's largest chemical manufacturer. At the ever-so-gentle hinting of other Du Fonts, Chairman Lammot du Pont Copeland Sr., 65, declined to stand for re-election and also stepped down from the finance committee.*His duties were added to those already held by Charles Brelsford ("Brel") McCoy, 62, who succeeded Copeland as president in 1967.

Dizzying Empire. Copeland moved out, a Du Pont spokesman said, "because personal affairs are taking more and more of his time." Six months ago, his 38-year-old son Lammot ("Motsey") du Pont Copeland Jr. petitioned for one of the most spectacular personal bankruptcies on record. He listed assets of $26 million and liabilities totaling $55 million. The younger Copeland's chief business associate, Lebanese-born Thomas A. Shaheen Jr., has been indicted by a Chicago grand jury on charges of receiving kickbacks on loans from the barbers' union pension fund and others. Much of the money allegedly went to shore up a dizzying business empire assembled by Copeland and Shaheen. In a related matter, Motsey has been charged with conspiracy, though he testified that he was frequently not aware of what associates did with his funds.

The son's follies are being visited on the father in more ways than one. The senior Copeland guaranteed about $8.2 million in loans to his son and his enterprises, all of which are now bankrupt or in deep financial trouble. Copeland holds a lien on Lammot Jr.'s real property, including a $500,000 home, making it unavailable to other creditors. Copeland's financial worries have been further complicated by the near failure of a family-connected stock brokerage, Francis I. du Pont & Co. Various family members and their friends are investors in the firm, and its troubles cost them at least $6 million (see following story).

Expensive Failures. Besides his family problems, Copeland faced a good deal of corporate discouragement. Under his leadership, Du Pont suffered a serious erosion of its pre-eminence in chemicals, even though the company is still the biggest in the field (1970 sales: $3.6 billion). Du Pont leaders have long dreamed of producing "another nylon," but the company has introduced few notably profitable products in the past decade. Several that did appear turned out to be expensive failures. Corfam, the synthetic leather, is being phased out after an investment of $100 million. Other disappointments: an antiflu pill called Symmetrel and a venture into the production of photo film. Last week the board announced a decline in earnings from $93 million in the first quarter of 1970 to $74 million in the equivalent period this year.