Benjamin Eisenstadt (December 7, 1906 – April 8, 1996) was the designer of the modern

sugar packet A sugar packet is a delivery method for one serving of sugar or other sweetener. Sugar packets are commonly supplied in restaurants, coffeehouses, and tea houses, where they are preferred to sugar bowls or sugar dispensers for reasons of neatness, ...

and developer of Sweet'N Low. He was the founder of the

Cumberland Packing Corporation Cumberland Packing Corporation is a privately owned company located at 2 Cumberland Street, in Brooklyn, New York. It was founded in 1945 by Benjamin Eisenstadt and is best known as the manufacturer, distributor, and marketer of Sweet'n Low, th ...

and a notable philanthropist.

Personal life

Benjamin Eisenstadt was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on December 7, 1906 in a family of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

immigrants from Russia. He attended Brooklyn College. He married Betty Gellman (1910–2001) on October 27, 1931 while living at 1250 44th Street in Brooklyn. Their children were Marvin Eisenstadt, who married Barbara; Gladys Eisenstadt; Ira Eisenstadt, who married Deirdre Howley; and Ellen Eisenstadt, who married Herbert Cohen.

Business and philanthropy

After college, Eisenstadt operated a cafeteria across from the

Brooklyn Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend ...

. He switched to making

tea bag A tea bag, or the compound teabag, is a small, porous, sealed bag or packet, typically containing tea leaves or the leaves of other herbs, which is immersed in water to steep and make an infusion. Originally used only for tea (''Camellia ...

s after his cafeteria business declined. In the mid 1940s he invented the

, packaged single servings of table sugar, to utilize his tea bag machinery. He proposed the idea to the major sugar producers, but was unsuccessful in attracting their interest. Since he had not secured a patent before shopping the idea around, sugar producers were then free to use his idea without paying royalties, and they did so. In 1957 he came up with a formula for a powdered

saccharin Saccharin (''aka'' saccharine, Sodium sacchari) is an artificial sweetener with effectively no nutritional value. It is about 550 times as sweet as sucrose but has a bitter or metallic aftertaste, especially at high concentrations. Saccharin is ...

sweetener. Previously saccharin was sold as liquid drops, or tiny tablets. He mixed the saccharin with dextrose to bulk it up to a teaspoon sized portion, added

cream of tartar Potassium bitartrate, also known as potassium hydrogen tartrate, with formula K C4 H5 O6, is a byproduct of winemaking. In cooking, it is known as cream of tartar. It is processed from the potassium acid salt of tartaric acid (a carboxylic ac ...

, and calcium silicate as

anti-caking agent An anticaking agent is an additive placed in powdered or granulated materials, such as table salt or confectioneries, to prevent the formation of lumps ( caking) and for easing packaging, transport, flowability, and consumption. Caking mechanisms ...

s. His Cumberland Packing Corporation marketed the product, called Sweet'N Low, in bright pink packets so that the saccharin packets would not be confused with sugar packets at restaurants. His company was also the first to package soy sauce and other single serving condiments. After the Cumberland Packing Corporation was on a financially successful footing, Eisenstadt devoted a part of his wealth to medical philanthropy. He became chairman of the board of the foundation for

Maimonides Medical Center Maimonides Medical Center is a non-profit, non-sectarian hospital located in Borough Park, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. Maimonides is both a treatment facility and academic medical center with 711 ...

. During his 20-year tenure as a trustee and benefactor of this institution, he also served as secretary, and vice chairman of the board.

Death

Benjamin died at age 89 after complications from open heart surgery.

Legacy

has the Eisenstadt Administration Building and the Gellman Pavilion. The Gellman Pavilion was named in memory of Dr. Abraham Gellman, the brother of Eisenstadt's wife Betty.

Patent

Timeline

*1906 Birth in Brooklyn *1945 Cumberland Cafeteria closes *1947 Cumberland Cafeteria converted to Cumberland Packaging Corporation *1956 Marvin Eisenstadt joins the company *1970 "Sweet'N Low" registered trademark of Cumberland Packaging Corporation *1996 Death in Brooklyn *2001 Death of Betty Gellman, his widow