{"id":47110,"date":"2025-07-07T22:41:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T22:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/47110\/"},"modified":"2025-07-07T22:41:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T22:41:14","slug":"slim-fast-billionaire-s-daniel-abraham-dead-at-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/47110\/","title":{"rendered":"Slim-Fast billionaire S. Daniel Abraham dead at 100"},"content":{"rendered":"

S. Daniel Abraham, the entrepreneur who turned a line of meal-replacement shakes into the weight-loss powerhouse Slim-Fast, has died at the age of 100.<\/a><\/p>\n

His death on June 29 was confirmed by American Friends of Bar-Ilan University, where he had served on the board, according to Bloomberg News.<\/a><\/p>\n

Abraham, whose net worth was estimated at $2.4 billion by Forbes<\/a>, made his fortune after introducing the powder-based diet product in 1977<\/a>.<\/p>\n

S. Daniel Abraham, the entrepreneur who turned a line of meal-replacement shakes into the weight-loss powerhouse Slim-Fast, has died. He was 100. ASSOCIATED PRESS<\/p>\n

SlimFast, mixed with low-fat milk, was marketed as a meal substitute and quickly gained popularity, thanks in part to endorsements from public figures like former New York City Mayor Ed Koch and Major League Baseball manager Tommy Lasorda.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s your life. Feed it right,\u201d the company\u2019s slogan read. Another campaign promised, \u201cGive us a week, we\u2019ll take off the weight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The product line still exists today under the name SlimFast, though it has struggled in recent years amid the rise of pharmaceutical weight-loss drugs.<\/p>\n

Abraham was also a significant political donor and philanthropist. He co-founded the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace in 1989 and was a major supporter of the Democratic Party.<\/a><\/p>\n

A 2020 report by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies ranked him as the 15th most active political donor among American billionaires, with nearly $22 million in contributions to federal candidates and political groups, almost entirely to Democrats.<\/p>\n

Born on Aug. 15, 1924, in Long Beach, NY, Abraham served in the US Army during World War II.<\/p>\n

Abraham became a billionaire thanks to the success of Slim-Fast meal-replacement shakes. Adriana \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

He began his business career in the 1940s by joining his father in selling over-the-counter remedies such as itch relievers and throat soothers. Together with his father, he acquired Thompson Medical Co., the maker of the anti-itch ointment San-Cura.<\/p>\n

Abraham took the company public in 1979 and later took it private again in the late 1980s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew these products worked, and, just as important, I knew that these maladies were so common that they would generate repeat sales,\u201d he wrote in his memoir.<\/p>\n

Abraham was a prolific donor to the Democratic Party. He was also close to Bill and Hillary Clinton. AP<\/p>\n

Before Slim-Fast, Abraham had success with Dexatrim, an appetite suppressant that reached $50 million in sales in 1979. <\/p>\n

The product later came under scrutiny when the FDA raised health concerns <\/a>in 2000 about its key ingredient, phenylpropanolamine, which has been associated with increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke.<\/p>\n

By that time, Dexatrim was owned by Chattem Inc., which changed the formula. NVE Pharmaceuticals acquired the product in 2014.<\/p>\n

The concept behind Slim-Fast emerged from the 1970s trend favoring high-protein shakes over solid food. Abraham marketed it as a complete program whereby users would drink Slim-Fast for breakfast, lunch and a snack, and then eat a \u201csensible\u201d dinner, for a daily total of 1,500 calories.<\/p>\n

Abraham also maintained high-level contacts in the Middle East. He is seen left with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

In the 1990s, he expanded the Slim-Fast brand to include frozen entrees, snacks and other diet products. Sales grew approximately 20% annually, reaching $611 million in 1999 with $125 million in profit.<\/p>\n

The brand\u2019s profile skyrocketed in 1989 when Dodgers players Orel Hershiser and Kirk Gibson challenged their manager, Tommy Lasorda, to lose weight for charity.<\/p>\n

Abraham offered Lasorda $20,000 for his chosen charity just to meet and discuss<\/a> using Slim-Fast. Lasorda took on the challenge with the high-fiber version, Ultra Slim-Fast, and lost more than 30 pounds in three months.<\/p>\n

He became a television spokesman, famously declaring, \u201cIf I can do it, you can do it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sales tripled to $300 million almost overnight.<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2000, Unilever acquired Slim-Fast Foods for $2.3 billion. However, under Unilever\u2019s ownership, US sales declined 40% between 2009 and 2013<\/a>, according to SymphonyIRI Group.<\/p>\n

In a 2013 Consumer Reports ranking, Slim-Fast placed last in overall satisfaction among do-it-yourself diet plans.<\/p>\n

Abraham expressed frustration with the brand\u2019s decline, telling Bloomberg News in 2013: \u201cUnilever is sleeping on it. If I still owned it, it would not be that way. I would be fighting harder. It\u2019s a damn shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time, Unilever stated that investments and \u201cexciting changes\u201d were planned for the product.<\/p>\n

Kainos Capital bought the brand from Unilever in 2014 for an undisclosed amount, with Unilever retaining a minority stake. In 2018, Kainos sold Slim-Fast to Ireland-based Glanbia Plc for $350 million. Glanbia put the brand up for sale again in February.<\/p>\n

Abraham had four daughters with his first wife, Estanne, before their marriage ended in divorce. He later married Ewa, with whom he had a son and a daughter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"S. Daniel Abraham, the entrepreneur who turned a line of meal-replacement shakes into the weight-loss powerhouse Slim-Fast, has…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":47111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[244,64,593,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-47110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-billionaires","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-obituaries","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114814365533460450","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}