F.B. Pollock; Executive at Dart Industries

Franklin B. Pollock, an executive with Dart Industries and former chairman of the Glass Container Assn., has died. He was 95.

Pollock died Friday at his Holmby Hills home.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Pollock started working to support his mother when he was a teenager. As a salesman for Imperial Cork Co., he was so successful that he earned more in commissions than the president of the company. By the age of 21, he was chairman of the board when the company was sold to Armstrong Cork.

Pollock went on to Thatcher Glass Manufacturing Co., and as president and chief executive officer led one of the first leveraged buyouts of its kind, acquiring control and expanding the company internationally.

In 1966 he merged Thatcher with Rexall Drug & Chemical Co., headed by Justin Dart. The result was Dart Industries, and Pollock became vice chairman.

In addition to heading the industry’s Glass Container Assn., Pollock was inducted into the Packaging Hall of Fame. He served on the boards of several companies, including Western Union, Ward Foods, Dorsey Corp. and Kennedy Valve Co.

Pollock also was a member of the board of directors of Elmira College in Elmira, N.Y. As a friend and supporter of Ronald Reagan, he was a founding member of the Ground Floor Committee, which contributed significantly to Reagan’s presidential victory in 1980.

Pollock is survived by his wife, Elsie; his son, Jack; his daughter, Penny, seven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Another son, Robert, died in 1995.