Laurence Alan Tisch has never been one to run with any pack. At the age of 15, while his cronies were playing stickball in Manhattan playgrounds, Tisch was a student at New York University. At Harvard Law School in 1946, he seemed to have a bright future, but then he dropped out. Some 40 years later, having become a tycoon while keeping a low profile, Tisch, 63, has suddenly thrust himself into an unfamiliar spotlight at the helm of CBS, one of America's best-known corporations.
The head of the $17.5 billion Loews corporate empire is often surprising but rarely anything less than impressive. On Wall Street, where wizards come and go with the shifting sands of the stock market, Larry Tisch has for decades inspired awe as an uncannily successful investor. He is cautious where others are carefree, daring while others are timid. In corporate boardrooms across the U.S., Tisch is known and feared as a tough negotiator who will disarm his strongest adversary and tenaciously protect his investments. To his 22,000 employees, the name Tisch is synonymous with an unerring ability to control any cost, expose any extravagance. From such talents a fortune has been forged: along with his brother, Loews President Preston Robert (Bob) Tisch, Larry has amassed a tidy family nest egg estimated at $2 billion.
At Loews, where his family controls 24% of the stock, Tisch operates hotels from Manhattan to Monte Carlo and owns subsidiaries that sell cigarettes, insurance and watches. This motley collection of businesses last year earned $589 million on sales of $6.7 billion. In addition to its stake in Loews, the Tisch family owns real estate scattered across the country and a vast stock and bond portfolio. Though the domain sometimes seems too enormous to comprehend, much less oversee, Tisch is rarely fazed by his responsibilities. He told TIME last week, "I find business very relaxing. I look forward every day to going to the office."
Management at Loews has always been a family affair. Larry is the master strategist and financier, usually tucked away in his plainly furnished corner office at 666 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, his head permanently cocked toward his Quotron terminal. Bob, 60, an equal partner, a gregarious man with an exceptional command of details, has been the hands-on operator. The unusual alliance has not been broken in 40 years. "We have never had an argument," Larry Tisch claims. "There's no reason to show temper. I don't get mad." When Bob became Postmaster General last month, the partnership was temporarily scuttled. Many of the Loews president's responsibilities will probably be assumed by the next generation of Tisches: one of Bob's sons and three of Larry's four sons all work for the family company.
The Tisch empire was built by buying good businesses at even better prices. Many Wall Street investors call themselves "value-oriented" and "contrarian," but those buzz words often translate into an investment philosophy no more profound than "Buy low, sell high." Larry Tisch is the real thing, earning his stripes over and over again.