James Webb Howard

WWII vet, Master Mason, loving husband and father, James Webb Howard, the "father" of Lite beer, passed away peacefully at home in Midvale, UT, on Sat., May 2, 2015. He was 89.

Born in Evansville, IN, to Joseph R. Howard and Velma Cobb Johnson, he grew up on a farm in Haubstadt. While at FJ Reitz high school, he worked nights as a shipyard welder building Landing Ship Tanks for the war effort. After graduation in 1943, he traded work boots for combat boots as one of the Army's "Fighting 69th" of the 101st Airborne Division. He fought at the Battle of the Bulge, helped to liberate concentration camps, and served in military government after the war.

Returning home, he married the love of his life, Phyllis J. Brandt of Evansville, in Dec. 1948 and was married 64 years before her death in 2012.

He earned a B.S. degree in engineering from Purdue (1949), an MBA from Case Western Reserve (1962), and a J.D. from Western State College of Law (1976).

An entrepreneur, he started or ran many international companies across multiple industries including banking and finance, real estate, food and beverage, and pharmaceuticals. He was a former president of the NASBIC and member of YPO.

As President and CEO of Meister Brau, Inc., with breweries in Chicago, San Francisco, Ohio, and New Orleans he introduced the world to "Lite" beer in the late 1960s and coined the term used to describe low-calorie food and beverages. The brand was sold to Miller Brewing in the 1970s.

He loved photography, flying, cars, boating, and traveling in his RV.

Always one to give back, he was an early and avid supporter of St. Jude's Children's Hospital and was their 1971 Man of the Year. He co-chaired the 1968 Illinois Sesqui-Centennial, and was a director of the Chicago Boys Club and Boy Scouts of America among others. He was also a great supporter of Native Americans in the West.

His final bequest included funding to establish the The Meister Bräu Institute.