Michael Smolyansky

Michael Smolyansky (May 4, 1947 - June 9, 2002) was an American businessman. He was the chairman, president and CEO of Lifeway Foods, Inc., a dairy company based in Morton Grove, Illinois. He founded the company in 1986.[1]

Family

Michael Smolyansky was a Jew of Ukrainian ethnicity,[2][3] originally from Kyiv, in the Soviet Union. His wife was Ludmila ("Lucy"); he had two children Julie and Edward. Julie and Edward became CEO and CFO of Lifeway Foods in 2002.[3][4]

Education

In 1971, Michael Smolyansky graduated with an MS mechanical engineering degree from the Kiev Institute of Technology.[5]

Career

In Kiev Smolyansky worked as an engineer in dairy and food-processing plants.[6]

Smolyansky family emigrated from Kiev to Chicago in 1976 as part of President Richard Nixon’s Grain for Immigrants programme.[7] When he arrived neither he nor his wife spoke English;[7] he paid for English classes;[7] his wife learned from television.[7] Smolyansky found a job as an engineer’s draftsman.[7] His wife opened a Russian delicatessen near their home in Rogers Park.[7] From 1976 to 1985, Smolyansky worked for EJ Littell Machine Company as a project engineer and as the department manager with responsibility for the design of material handling equipment.[5]

Smolyansky's wife suggested the idea of him founding a business making kefir, whilst they were visiting Germany in Winter 1984.[6] Kefir was available in Cologne supermarkets, but not Chicago. Smolyansky rented a small factory on the east side of Skokie in 1985, where he set up a production line; he invested about $50,000 of family savings in the business.[6] Smolyansky founded Lifeway Foods Inc, which commenced operations in February 1986, and was incorporated under the laws of the State of Illinois on 19 May 1986.[1] Smolyansky was Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, President, Treasurer and a director of the Company.[5] The business focused on selling kefir to the Russian ethnic population,[7] through delicatessens and health food shops.[6] Sales reached $300,000 by the end of 1986.[6] The company went public on NASDAQ in 1988.[4]

Smolyansky visited Kiev in February 1992 for the first time since 1976, in an effort to form a joint venture to produce and sell kefir in Ukraine.[6]

Smolyansky died of a heart attack at the age of 55, on 9 June 2002.[8] When he died, Lifeway had grown into a $12 million business.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 SEC filing, Lifeway Foods Inc, 31 December 1999
  2. ↑ Lifeway Foods, Lifeway story
  3. 1 2 Lifeway Foods, Management Bios.
  4. 1 2 Lifeway Foods, Timeline.
  5. 1 2 3 Item 9 of an SEC Filing, filed by Lifeway Foods Inc on 31 March 1999.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Chicago Trribune, 31 August 1992, Ukrainian Immigrants Culture A Lucrative Niche, by Nancy Ryan
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 University of Illinois Alumni Association, Feature Story, Spring 2011, Kefir Master, by Jonathan Black.
  8. ↑ Business Wire, 11 June 2002, Lifeway Foods Announces Death of President Michael Smolyansky; Board Appoints Julie Smolyansky as Successor.

External links

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