CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY

Billionaire Weight Loss Tycoon Dies at 100

S. Daniel Abraham turned a small family company into the billion-dollar SlimFast empire.

SlimFast tycoon S. Daniel Abraham died at a Manhattan hospital Sunday. He built his empire on the back of a tiny pharmaceutical company his father, a dentist, had purchased for $5,000 in 1947. He went on to introduce the popular SlimFast powder formula to the market in 1977, featuring the tagline: “Just Add Milk.” He eventually sold his company in 2000 to Unilever for a reported profit of close to $2.3 billion. In his later years, Abraham delved into politics, developing a friendship with former President Bill Clinton and becoming one of the biggest bankrollers of former Sen. Hilary Clinton’s 2016 White House campaign. A veteran of the Second World War, he worked extensively to lobby for peace in the Middle East, cultivating relationships with regional leaders, including former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. At the time of his death, he was also awaiting a ruling on his motion to dismiss claims of sexual abuse from a former assistant, who claimed he assaulted her multiple times over a three-year period in the 1980s.