Lever Bros. executive who created liquid laundry soap and margarine that tastes like butter established a fund in The Trust that has supported dozens of nonprofits.
William Hoddle Burkhart (1899-1976)
In the mid 1950s, Lever Brothers introduced three products that dramatically boosted its bottom line, lifting it to profitability: liquid laundry detergents, bars of soap containing cleansing cream, and margarine that was advertised as the first to taste like butter. All three “firsts” came during William Hoddle Burkhart’s presidency.
William was born April 26, 1899, in Warren, Pennsylvania to Elizabeth Ann “Lizy” Hoddle, and Lewis Hiawatha Burkhart, a mechanical engineer. William attended local schools, and his senior yearbook pokes a little fun. “Bill has just lately taken to parting his hair in the middle,” his biography noted. “Isn’t it sweet?” However, “despite the horrible offense of splitting his hair on top, he is a ‘much needed’ senior,” his bio said.
After high school, William served with the Navy in World War I, then studied chemical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. His first job was in the analytical laboratory at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati. In 1922, he married Frantzes Dinsmoor. Three years later, he joined the soap-maker Gold Dust Corporation in New York, and became manager of its plant in Baltimore. Frantzes and William had a daughter, Diane, in 1931.
After Gold Dust merged with Hecker Products Corporation in 1934, he was promoted to director of manufacturing. In 1938, Lever Brothers bought Hecker Products, and he took over as manager of the Baltimore plant. He remained in Baltimore until 1943, when he accepted his first national post with Lever Brothers. In 1950, after a series of promotions, he was elected a director and vice president in charge of production, research and development, and purchasing.
Among his responsibilities was supervising construction of Lever House, from 1950 to 1952, which was the second skyscraper in New York City with a glass curtain wall—after the United Nations Secretariat Building. Lever House, at 390 Park Avenue, was designated a New York City Landmark in 1982.
In 1955, William was elected president of Lever Brothers and started developing new products at a fast pace, including the soaps and margarine.
During a visit back to Warren in the summer of 1958, Burkhart spoke at the high school commencement. He urged the graduates to “develop an insatiable curiosity… Through education, you gain admission to what I call the good life, a sense of being alive and a part of the fascinating world in which we live,” he said.
William lived what he preached, staying involved. He was a director of the Fifth Avenue Association, the New York World’s Fair Corporation, and the Commerce and Industry Association of New York, among others. In the late 1950s he served on the board of the Citizens Budget Commission and the Grocery Manufacturers Association, and was a member of the Corporations Committee of the Greater New York Fund.
His unrestricted fund in The Trust has supported dozens of nonprofits, including help for older adults, people without homes, former prisoners, and those struggling with addiction.
In 1964, he retired as chairman of Lever Brothers. He died in North Tarrytown, New York, on July 31, 1976.
He and his family have created funds in The Trust that have helped a variety of chartable causes.
