Business Mogul J. Peter Grace Jr., 81, Dies; Legend Among Execs

J. Peter Grace Jr., who ruled his family business empire with pluck for five decades only to be toppled after using company funds as his own, has died at age 81.

The former chairman of W.R. Grace & Co. and adviser to three presidents died of cancer Wednesday night at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York, relatives and company officials said Thursday.

As CEO of the world’s leading maker of specialty chemicals, the workaholic Grace was the longest-running head of a major U.S. company. As head of the Reagan-era Grace Commission, he was a zealous national crusader for cutting government waste. As a leading Roman Catholic, he hobnobbed with Popes.

But he fell from power last month at the company that practically reared him, after major shareholders revolted, partly as a result of millions of dollars in company payments for his chef, nurses and other lavish perks.

Earlier in March, Chief Executive J.P. Bolduc--who was streamlining the company--was forced out due to sexual harassment allegations.

The turbulence, and Grace’s death, marks the end of an era for the Grace empire, which was founded as a Peru-based shipper by Grace’s Irish immigrant grandfather and led by three successive generations of Graces.