and classified his death a suicide. A few weeks later the Securities and Exchange Commission uncovered a 1.25-million-dollar bribe that United Brands paid to Honduran president Oswaldo López Arellano under authorization by Black in order to obtain a reduction of taxes on banana exports. After Black's death, Seymour Milstein and Paul Milstein bought into United Fruit. Personal life Black was married to artist Shirley Lubell (sister of Oklahoma oil executive Benedict I. Lubell and art dealer Grace Borgenicht Brandt). They had two children: daughter Judy Schlosberg and son Leon Black, founding member of private equity firm Apollo Management. Black served as a trustee of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The American Jewish Committee, the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, Babson College, the Jewish Guild for the Blind, and the Jewish Museum. He had also served as chairman of the Commentary Magazine publication committee. The Eli M. Black Lifelong Learning Center at the Park Avenue Synagogue is named in his honor. Cultural references The 1994 film The Hudsucker Proxy included a scene resembling Black's suicide. See also Union of Banana Exporting Countries References Further reading "Eli Black's Rites Attended by 500", The New York Times, February 6, 1975. Peter T. Kilborn, "Suicide of Big Executive: Stress of Corporate Life", The New York Times, February 14, 1975. Thomas P. McCann, On the Inside, Beverley, Massachusetts: Quinlan Press, 1987. 1921 births 1975 suicides 20th-century American businesspeople American businesspeople in shipping American food industry business executives American investment bankers American manufacturing businesspeople American people of Polish-Jewish descent Corporate raiders Lehman Brothers people Polish emigrants to the United States Suicides by jumping in New York City Yeshiva University alumni United Fruit Company People from Woodmere, New York Rabbis from New York (state) 20th-century American rabbis 1975 deaths