Thomas P. Kemp, 75; Coca-Cola Bottling CEO
Thomas P. Kemp, former chairman and chief executive of Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of Los Angeles and former president of Beatrice/Hunt-Wesson Foods, has died. He was 75.
Kemp, a brother of former NFL star, congressman and secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp, died April 26 of an apparent heart attack while swimming at a pool in Laguna Beach, said his daughter Anne Kemp Hummel.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. May 6, 2006 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday May 06, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 47 words Type of Material: Correction
Kemp obituary: The obituary of corporate executive Thomas P. Kemp in Thursday’s California section said Kemp’s brother, Jack Kemp, was a vice presidential candidate in 1988. In fact, he campaigned unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988 and was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 1996.
At the time of his death, Kemp was serving as vice chairman of the board of regents of Pepperdine University.
When his brother ran for president and later vice president in 1988, Kemp moved to Washington, D.C., to help campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire.
“Tom loved campaigning for me, for [Ronald] Reagan and for Republicans in general, but he was bigger than just a political party because he saw way beyond the next election to the next generation, indeed to humanity itself,” Jack Kemp said Wednesday in a statement.
A native of Los Angeles, Thomas Kemp attended USC, where he played football and baseball. After college, he worked as an accountant for Pricewaterhouse until he was drafted into the Army.
After his discharge, he worked as a CPA and later started an insurance firm, which he said in a 2004 interview “wasn’t terribly successful.”
He joined Coca-Cola as financial officer and rose to the position of chairman and CEO. When the firm was purchased by Beatrice Cos. in 1982, Kemp served as president of Beatrice/Hunt-Wesson Foods. He retired in 1986 when the firm was purchased again.
At Pepperdine, Kemp was co-chairman of a program to retrain Russian engineers to help defense companies in the former Soviet Union commercialize technologies.
Kemp’s wife, Elizabeth Benson Kemp, died in 1994.
In addition to his daughter Anne and brother Jack, Kemp is survived by daughters Paula Donahue of Irvine and Nancy Kemp of Laguna Niguel; son Thomas P. Kemp Jr. of Laguna Beach; brothers Paul R. Kemp Jr. and Richard D. Kemp; and six grandchildren.
A memorial service is planned for 10:30 a.m. May 13 at the Island Hotel, 690 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach.
Instead of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to Human Options, a shelter for battered women and children, at P.O. Box 53745, Irvine, CA 92619.
