At Large

     Joe W. Luter Sr. and his son, Joe W. Luter Jr., started Smithfield, but it was Joe Luter III, the 70-year-old chairman, who turned the company into a behemoth, largely through more than 20 acquisitions over the last 20 years. His father died in 1962, when he was a student at Wake Forest University, and not long after that Luter III took over as company president. He was 26. Three years later, he sold Smithfield to a small conglomerate. Under its control, Smithfield faltered, and Luter III returned to the firm as chief executive officer in 1975. After stabilizing the company, Luter went on a buying spree, buying up several major competitors at mostly bargain prices and turning Smithfield into a processing powerhouse. Over the last decade, he and top management have pushed the business into international markets—chiefly Mexico, China and Eastern and Western Europe.

      The last 12 months have been somewhat tumultuous for Smithfield. First, in December of 2008, workers at the company’s hog-killing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina (the world’s largest), voted to unionize. Then in February of 2009, the company announced that, aiming to boost productivity, it was closing six processing plants—including one of the firm’s original facilities in Smithfield (one remains). Next came the swine flu scare, which has brought more scrutiny of the company by health officials and environmentalists who have long decried the health dangers of large-scale hog farms. Robert Kennedy Jr. has been a longtime critic of Luter III and the processed pork industry. Luter III is used to hearing criticism and shrugs most of it off with his plain-spoken manner, sometimes reminding people (via the old folk tale) that men who die with no enemies did not do much with their lives.