Pabst Brewing Chairman Perlstein Dies

Harris Perlstein, former president and chairman of Pabst Brewing Co. under whose auspices a single beer maker first sold its products on both the East and West coasts, has died at the age of 93.

Perlstein died of heart failure on Sunday.

He was a member of the board of directors at Pabst for 47 years, from 1932 to 1979. He also served as chairman from 1954 to 1972, president from 1932 to 1956 and chairman of the executive committee from 1972 to 1979.

After high school, he worked briefly at the Wahl-Henius Institute of Fermentology, where he was introduced to brewing.

In 1927, he became president of the Premier Malt Products Co., which in 1932 merged with a Milwaukee brewery owned by the Pabst family. Initially the company was called the Premier-Pabst Corp. but the name was later changed to Pabst Brewing Co.

A second brewery was built in 1934 in Peoria Heights, and in 1945, the company purchased Hoffman Beverage Co., an East Coast soft drink manufacturer.

In 1948, Pabst purchased the Los Angeles Brewing Co., which produced the regional beer Eastside. Five years later the Los Angeles plant began producing Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, making Pabst the first company with breweries located from coast to coast.