The 89-year-old CEO of the successful sweetener magnate most known for its Sweet’N Low product has leaped to his death early Friday after a struggle with Parkinson’s.
Donald Tober died immediately after landing in the courtyard of his Upper East Side apartment complex between 65th and 66th streets, at around 5 a.m.
As the leader of Suger Foods Company, Tober created flagship products including Sweet’N Low, Sugar in the Raw, and N’Joy non-dairy creamer.
“Basically, we’re concerned with everything that surrounds the coffee cup,” he said in a 1995 interview. “We’re tightly focused.”
Sweet’N Low’s pink packets became household products and dominated alone more than 80 percent of the sugar substitute industry.
“Donald IS Sweet’N Low,” the current Sugar Foods’ President Steve Odell said.
“Every packet of Sweet’N Low sold today can be traced back to a single sales call that he probably made or at least had a part in.”
Tober’s business partner for over 50 years also said that Parkinson’s illness was “devastating” and “especially for someone as active as he was.”
“I talked to him yesterday and certainly no. There was no indication whatsoever.”
Tober lived on the building’s 11th floor with his wife Barbara, a fashion magazine editor and trustee board chair at the Manhattan Museum of Arts and Design.
“He was much more than just one product,” Odell added. “A thousand people a second use of our products.”
