Lester Crown's Kevo

Born in Chicago in 1925, Lester Crown is the son of Henry Crown, the man behind Henry Crown and Company. Henry started Material Service Corporation in 1919 with his father and two brothers. After much expansion, the company was merged with General Dynamics in 1959 and still exists today.

Lester Crown received his BA in chemical engineering from Northwestern University and went on to complete an MBA at Harvard. Before becoming involved with the family business at an executive level, Lester worked alongside his brothers loading cement trucks. He has served as the president and chair of General Dynamics and presently sits as president of Henry Crown and Co. and is a member of the Board of Directors at Maytag. His career is not without scandal. Lester was involved in a high level bribery case in Illinois the 1970s. He donated $8,000 to a political slush fund that was intended for a group of legislators in the Illinois General Assembly to aid the passage of a bill to raise highway weight limits for ready-mix concrete trucks. The money and bill were rejected. He allegedly escaped prosecution by agreeing to be a witness in the case. The case was important as it brought about changes to government security clearance policy.

Crown is a limited partner of the Chicago Professional Sports Limited Partnership (Chicago Bulls/NBA) and a partner of the New York Yankees Partnership. Currently, he ranks 52 on the Forbes 400 list for 1998 and has been a member since 1982. Lester lives with his wife Renee in a two-story Georgian brick house in suburban Wilmette on Chicago's North Shore. Their seven children have all left home and many of them are involved with the family businesses. Crown is responsible for overseeing the family fortune, which is spread among dozens of beneficiaries.
Work History
"Board of Directors, Maytag Corporation

Partner New York Yankees from 1973

Instructed math at Northwestern University, 1946-1947

VP Chemical Engineers at MarbleheadLime Co., 1950-1956

President, Marblehead Lime Co., 1956-66

Board of Directors, Marblehead Lime Co.

President, General Dynamics Corp., 1970-83

Chair., General Dynamics Corp., 1983-

President, Henry Crown & Co., 1969-

"
Affiliations
"Trustee Aspen Institute Humanistic Studies, Northwestern U.

Trustee Michael Reese Foundation

Board of Directors, Lyric Opera Corp.

Board of Directors, Children's Memorial Medical Center

Member of Board of Advisors, Chicago Zoology Society

Member of Board, Jewish Theological Seminary

Member Lake Shore Country Club

Member of Northmoor Country Club

Member of Standard Club

Member of Economics Club (dir. 1972)

Member of John Evans Club of Northwestern U.

Tau Beta Pi, Pi My Epsilon, Phi Eta Sigma.

former director of: Continental Illinois Corp./Continental Illinois Bank, Trans World Airlines and Esmark Corp.

chairman of the Advance Gifts Committee of The Jewish United Fund

a member of the board of governors of the Metropolitan Planning Council in Chicago

vice chairman of the Aspen Institute

limited partner of the Chicago Professional Sports Limited Partnership (Chicago Bulls/NBA)

a partner of the New York Yankees Partnership

Joined board of 360 Communications in 1996

American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science

a member of the Board of Governors, Tel Aviv University

"
Awards
Lester Crown has also won numerous Awards