Management: Bethlehem’s Shifting Stars

Unlike most U.S. companies, Pennsylvania’s conservative Bethlehem Steel had no compulsory retirement program, and its last chief executive served into his 80s. Almost casually last week, Bethlehem’s Chairman and Chief Executive Arthur Bartlett Homer remarked to reporters that a program had been worked out—and that he would be among the first to be affected. Said the tall, laconic boss of the nation’s second largest steel company and biggest ship builder: “I don’t like to talk about it, but April 14 is the annual meeting of Bethlehem Steel; it is the date of the expiration of my term as director, and it is my birthday.”

At 68, Homer will then wind up a career that reshaped his company and made him one of the best-rewarded executives in the U.S. His current annual salary and bonus: $307,082—of which Beth Steel figures he pockets $79,048 after taxes.

Homeric Feat. Born in Belmont, Mass., and educated at Brown (’17), Homer once worked as a 13¢-an-hour lathe operator during summer vacation. It was as a World War I Navy lieutenant and pioneer submariner that he caught the eye of Bethlehem management at the company’s shipyard in Quincy, Mass. After the war, he moved up at flank speed in Bethlehem Ship, became vice president in charge of it in 1940. During World War II, his 200,000-man force turned out 1,127 ships, from landing craft to aircraft carriers, a Homeric feat unequaled by any competitor. More than any other civilians, Homer and his then chief, the late Eugene Grace, got the credit for building a two-ocean Navy.

Homer succeeded Grace to the top jobs—first as president in 1945, then as chief executive in 1957. Precise and analytical, he surprised many in the industry by proving to be a forceful chief. Sensing that shipbuilding was on the wane, the old sailor cut back Bethlehem’s stake in ships, and late last year initiated a threeyear, $750 million improvement program concentrating in other areas. Rising behind the Indiana dunes near Chicago is a $275 million finishing plant that will give Bethlehem, which has long been the strongest supplier in the East, a major hold in the Midwest.

Up from the Loop. Most likely to succeed Homer is powerfully built (6 ft 3 in.) Edmund F. Martin, 60, who became president three years ago, then advanced to vice chairman last August as Stewart S. Cort, 52, replaced him. Martin, who now earns $255,663 a year, joined Bethlehem in 1922 as a “looper,” or management trainee, worked up from repairman’s helper to chief of steelmaking operations.