Changes of the Week

P: Walter Hoving, 62, quit as president and chairman-designate of Manhattan-headquartered, high-fashion Bonwit Teller, also resigned as president of the Hoving Corp., a holding company that controls 52% of Tiffany's but is in turn held by the giant (1959 sales: $276 million) Genesco, Inc. Taking over as president at Bonwit Teller is Edgar Wherry, 54, now vice president of J. W. Robinson, a Los Angeles department store chain, and longtime merchandise manager at Manhattan's Lord & Taylor. Reason for Hoving's move: he hopes to buy Tiffany's from Genesco and put the old (123 years) firm on a more profitable basis, while holding on to its high reputation.

P: Marshall S. Lachner, 46, resigned as president and chief executive officer of B. T. Babbitt, Inc, a leading maker of household cleaning products. He switched from beer to Babbitt 30 months ago. after squabbling forced him out of Pabst. "We have no pride." he announced. "We'll do anything that's legal to make a profit.'' He ran gimmicky promotions, even gave away subway tokens for Bab-O coupons. For a while Babbitt cleaned up. earned 42-c- per share in 1958 (v. $1.15 per share loss the year before), but last year it was back in the red. lost $1.33 per share on sales of $23 million. Lachner left Babbitt for a senior vice-presidency at Revlon. where his hard-driving style should fit in with the scenery. Until a new boss can be found at Babbitt, Alfred I. Schimpf, the board chairman, will serve as chief executive officer. In line for the top job: new President Michael P. Frawley, 55, who moved up from executive vice president.P: George Lane Cobb, 49, resigned as president and chief executive officer of S. H.

Kress & Co.. the sixth largest U.S. variety-store chain (1959 sales: $154,422,000). He was brought to Kress two years ago, after the top management resigned to avert a proxy fight. Trustees of the Kress Foundation, which holds 42% of the stock, had balked at the lagging company's conservative policies. Cobb expanded into new merchandise, but he failed to stop the sales slide, which has continued every year but one since 1952. For the first five months of 1960, sales fell off 5.6%, and the directors cut the quarterly dividend from 50-c- to 25-c-. At the annual meeting in May. Cobb came under heavy fire from irate stockholders, finally confessed: "We made mistakes, some glaring. Our mistakes were made in an aggressive way, in an attempt to do too much too fast." Now acting as president is Board Vice Chairman Thomas W. MacLeod.

P: Bruce M. Jeffris, president of Parker Pen Co. (1959 sales: $38 million), took over as chief executive officer as Board Chairman Kenneth Parker. 65, retired. Jeffris, 64, is the first chief executive outside the Parker family, but he is not expected to hold the distinction for long. Harvard-educated Daniel Parker, 35, grandson of the firm's founder, is now executive vice president, only a step away from the presidency.

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