Donald Tober, whose company Sugar Foods Corp. marketed the sweet’N Low sugar substitute and other restaurant supplies, died Friday in what New York police described as a suicide. He was 89 years old.
Mr. Tober, who had Parkinson’s disease, was married to Barbara Tober, a former editor of Bride magazine. They lived on Park Avenue in Manhattan and had a horse farm in Dutchess County, New York. Mr. Tober once owned a thoroughbred named Sweet’N Low, who competed in horse jumping events.
Mr. Tober and Stephen Odell owned Sugar Foods, founded in 1948 by Mr. Tober’s father, Harry Tober. The company initially sold sugar in 100-kilogram bags, but later found it much more profitable to sell it in small packages designed for restaurants and cafes. Sugar Foods did not produce Sweet’N Low, but made the brand’s pink packages an accessory in restaurants. In recent years, Sugar Foods has sold the N’Joy sweetener brand instead of Sweet’N Low.
Sweet’N Low, made with saccharin, was introduced in 1957 by Cumberland Packing Corp. of Brooklyn, founded by Ben Eisenstadt. The name Sweet’N Low comes from a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Donald Gibbs Tober was born in 1931 and grew up in New York. When he was a boy, he sometimes helped his father deliver sugar. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from Harvard University. After working as a lawyer, he joined his father’s company in 1958.