Robert B. Shapiro

1938 - 2025

Shapiro, Robert B.

August 4, 1938 - May 2, 2025

Robert Bernard Shapiro died at home in Chicago on May 2. Born August 4, 1938, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the first child of Moses and Lilly Shapiro. Attended the Horace Mann School, Harvard College, and Columbia Law School. Played guitar and sang at numerous folk-music venues and events in and near Cambridge in the late '50s. Practiced law in New York, where his pro bono clients included rent strikers in East Harlem and Allen Ginsberg. Taught at Columbia, Northeastern, and University of Wisconsin law schools. Worked for the Department of Transportation during the Johnson administration; protested the Nixon administration while teaching at Madison. Worked as general counsel for the electronics company General Instrument in New York, and then at the pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle in Skokie, Ill. Named head of Searle's new NutraSweet division when that product was approved for sale in the early '80s; then, in the mid-'90s, became chairman and CEO of Monsanto, after it had acquired Searle. He reshaped both the culture of the company (among many other changes, he made silent meditation retreats available free of charge to any corporate employees who wanted to go, not standard practice in the agricultural-chemical industry of the era) and its mission: he believed, passionately, that food and agriculture biotechnology could and must be used to improve people's lives everywhere, a message that sounds less controversial now but was challenging to convey to the world at that time. Started a venture-funding group in Chicago, Sandbox Industries, to foster new tech companies. As a young father, he once said his dearest hope for his children was that they might grow up with a sense of humor and a love of music; they did. He is survived by Ginger Farley, his wife; his sister and brother, Susan Garfield and Bill Shapiro; Jim Shapiro and Nina Gordon, his children with his ex-wife Berta Gordon; Kai and Gabe Shapiro, his children with his ex-wife Kemery Bloom; Ginger's children, Harley Mac Cionaodha and Lydia Link; and four grandchildren. He was predeceased by a number of dogs, most recently a small dachshund named Andy (after the nickname used by E.B. White, another friend of dachshunds), whose own struggle for dignity in the face of advancing age he observed with fond amusement and genuine admiration. A funeral will be held on Tuesday, May 6, at Chicago Jewish Funerals in Skokie. Donations may be made to the Shriver Center on Poverty Law.