PERSONNEL: British Tap

Two years ago, when capable James Dinsmore Tew decided, at 55, to retire as president of B. F. Goodrich Co., he said: “An executive of a big corporation burns up two years of his life every twelve months.”

Last week his successor, husky, 61-year-old Samuel Brown Robertson, wound up his 20-year career with Goodrich by resigning. Unlike Jim Tew, Goodrich’s sixth president (since 1870) did not sound off about signing off.

Named to succeed him was John Lyon Collyer, who at 45 still has years to burn. From Cornell (1917), Mr. Collyer went to work for Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co., soon switched to the rubber business. By last week, when he was tapped for Goodrich, Mr. Collyer was joint managing director of British Dunlop Rubber Co., Ltd., had touched most of the rungs of the production ladder on the way up.

¶ Hale & hearty but nearing 70, Robert Hervey Cabell retired last week as president of Armour & Co., announced he would go to war-jittery England in January, to adjust personal financial interests acquired there during his 20 years as Armour’s London representative. His successor: Executive Vice-President George Eastwood.