1. Leonard Lee Ratner was an American businessman who built his fortune through mail order sales, particularly as the founder of d-CON rat poison company, before moving into real estate investment.
31 Facts About Lee Ratner
1. 2.
Lee Ratner was the biological grandfather of film producer and director Brett Ratner.
3.
Leonard Lee Ratner was born in 1918 and grew up on the west side of Chicago.
4.
One day Ratner heard about a truck load of bananas that were about to spoil from over ripening.
5.
Lee Ratner struck a deal with the truck owner to buy them for $250.
6.
Lee Ratner graduated from Marshall High School in 1937 before enrolling at Northwestern University.
7.
The business, which Lee Ratner ran from his home, sold books, medicine, and novelty merchandise.
8.
The business grew rapidly and by 1942, Lee Ratner was a millionaire.
9.
Lee Ratner continued the aggressive advertising campaign, turning to the relatively new medium of television.
10.
On May 1,1951, Lee Ratner ceased mail-order distribution of d-CON, having placed the product in more than 40,000 drug, grocery, and hardware stores.
11.
The success of d-CON led Lee Ratner to expand the business, announcing plans to introduce 10 to 12 household products as subsidiaries of d-CON over the next several years.
12.
Around 1955, Lee Ratner formed The Grant Company as a subsidiary of the d-CON Company and as a joint venture with his brother Walter.
13.
D-CON in particular was a huge success and Lee Ratner sold the brand for approximately $7 million in 1956.
14.
Around 1951, Lee Ratner moved his family to Miami, Florida to explore new business interests.
15.
Lee Ratner agreed to be the farm manager and relocated his family there in the summer of 1952.
16.
Also in 1952, Lee Ratner first met Gerald Gould, who would become one of his closest friends and business associates.
17.
Lee Ratner had called a local advertising agency where Gould was working to place an ad in Harper's Bazaar for a perfume he was selling.
18.
Gould was asked to investigate to make sure Lee Ratner was not running a similar scam.
19.
Lee Ratner quickly found Ratner's business to be legitimate and the two became friends.
20.
Lee Ratner brought in two business associates, Manuel Riskin and Edward Shapiro, who had real estate experience.
21.
Lee Ratner was retained by the new company in a consulting role.
22.
From 1956 until 1961, Lee Ratner owned a carpet business called Leonard Carpet Manufacturing Company.
23.
Lee Ratner was involved in soilless farming through Hydroponics International, a subsidiary of the Lee County Land and Title Company until it was dissolved in 1963.
24.
In 1969, Lee Ratner launched a computer programming correspondence course under the name Computer College of Technology.
25.
Lee Ratner claimed his 50-part course could teach even a high school dropout to program for a one-time payment of $545.
26.
Lee Ratner had "dark curly hair, [a] charismatic smile, and [an] electric personality" according to his friend and long-time business associate Gerald Gould.
27.
Lee Ratner maintained diverse business interests and had a passion for developing new products.
28.
Lee Ratner had the uncanny ability to figure out what to say to a prospective buyer.
29.
Lee Ratner has been described as "the king of telemarketers" from the early days of television.
30.
In 1959, Lee Ratner purchased a race horse named Illinois and hired famous jockey Lester Piggott to ride it.
31.
Lee Ratner was involved in real estate with his son Joel, who was married to Reina Nadell in 1964.