Eli Goldston (March 8, 1920 - January 21, 1974) was an American business leader and a leading spokesman for corporate social responsibility. He was President and CEO of Eastern Gas and Fuel Associates of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, from 1961 until 1974.

Early life

Eli Goldston was born on March 8, 1920, in

Warren, Ohio Warren is a city in and the county seat of Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. Located in northeastern Ohio, Warren lies approximately northwest of Youngstown and southeast of Cleveland. The population was 39,201 at the 2020 census. The his ...

. He was educated at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

(A.B. 1942),

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

(M.B.A. 1946), and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

(LL.B. 1949.).

Career

As chief executive of Eastern Gas and Fuel, Goldston ran diversified energy corporation with 19 subsidiaries in the

bituminous coal Bituminous coal, or black coal, is a type of coal containing a tar-like substance called bitumen or asphalt. Its coloration can be black or sometimes dark brown; often there are well-defined bands of bright and dull material within the seams. It ...

, coke, gas utility and river-ocean marine industries. He was best known, however, for his belief that liberal politics and corporate success could go hand in hand. He is quoted as having said: "I don't believe that business, alone, can solve our social problems. Neither do I believe it, alone, has caused them. But they'll not get solved unless innovative businessmen, who sense a changing world and feel challenged, react in a fashion likely to produce profit as well as imaginative response to social need." Goldston's most visible legacy is the

Rainbow Swash The Rainbow Swash is the common name for an untitled work by Corita Kent in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The rainbow design painted on a tall LNG storage tank is the largest copyrighted work of art in the world.

, a giant 1971 artwork by

Corita Kent Corita Kent (November 20, 1918 – September 18, 1986), born Frances Elizabeth Kent and also known as Sister Mary Corita Kent, was an American artist, designer and educator, and former religious sister. Key themes in her work included Christiani ...

that Goldston commissioned on a tall liquefied natural gas tank facing Boston's Southeast Expressway. The artwork was added to another gas tank on the Dorchester waterfront in 1992 when the original LNG tank was torn down. The Rainbow Swash is reportedly the largest copyrighted work of art in the world. The mural drew controversy when critics believed they saw the face of Vietnamese leader

Ho Chi Minh (: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as ('Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as Prime ...

's face in its blue stripe, which Goldston and Kent both denied.

Death and legacy

Goldston died on January 21, 1974. Two professorships at Harvard University, one in the law school and one in the business school, were established in his memory, "join their skills and commitments in teaching, research and course development … to improve social conditions through men and women trained and motivated in management and legal fields." Goldston also established two funds at Harvard Law School, the Issachar J. Goldston Memorial Scholarship and the Gertrude R. Goldston Scholarship. His son is physicist

Robert J. Goldston Robert James Goldston (born May 6, 1950) is a professor of astrophysics at Princeton University and a former director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Early life and education Goldston was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1950, the son of Eli ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldston, Eli 1920 births 1974 deaths American chief executives Businesspeople from Massachusetts Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Law School alumni People from Warren, Ohio 20th-century American businesspeople