Michel Fribourg; 1st to Sell U.S. Wheat to Soviets

Michel Fribourg, 87, the trader who opened up the Soviet market to U.S. wheat and rice. Fribourg was the fifth consecutive generation of his family to manage Continental Grain Co., which was founded in Belgium in 1913 and became one of the world’s largest commodities trading operations under his leadership. The company was the first U.S. exporter to sell American grain to the Soviet Union in the 1960s and to China in the 1970s. Fribourg was an intelligence agent for the U.S. Army during World War II, leaving the service to take over the business in 1944 after his father died and his family fled Europe for New York. He took the lead in selling grain to the Soviet Union and expanded the company into 70 countries, diversifying to include other agribusiness, including poultry, cattle, animal feed and hogs. He had been a member of the Forbes 400 since 1982, with a net worth by the mid-1990s of more than $2 billion. He was company president from 1944 to 1984, chief executive officer until 1988, and chairman of the board until his retirement in 1998. He was instrumental in founding the National Council for United States-China Trade and the U.S.-USSR Trade and Economic Council in the 1970s. On Tuesday in New York.