Former Archer Daniels Midland CEO Dwayne Andreas dead at 98
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Dwayne Andreas, the farmer’s son and college dropout who turned the grain-processing company Archer Daniels Midland into “the supermarket to the world,” then saw it rocked by a price-fixing scandal, has died. He was 98.
Archer Daniels Midland spokeswoman Jackie Anderson on Wednesday confirmed Andreas’ death. The company did not immediately provide additional details, including a cause of death or where he died.
Under Andreas’ guidance, the company changed the agricultural world. Andreas used his influence and friendships with politicians including former House Speaker Tip O’Neill, former Sen. Bob Dole and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to encourage federal subsidies for corn and grain farmers, maintain huge overseas markets and help turn ADM products, including high fructose corn syrup, into staples of the American diet. Gorbachev was among the international figures who trekked to the company’s longtime headquarters in Decatur, Illinois, to see Andreas. The company moved its headquarters to Chicago in 2014 but still has more than 4,000 employees in Decatur.
Andreas sometimes tried to downplay his influence and his company’s. But in a 1990 Fortune magazine story, he said, “How the hell could you run a business like mine if you didn’t have communications with the people who make the big decisions?”