DE Deere and Co

By James R. Hagerty 

When he was named chief executive of Deere & Co. in 1982, Robert Hanson became the first head of the maker of agricultural equipment who wasn't related to the founding family by blood or marriage. His timing could have been better.

The U.S. agricultural boom of the 1970s, fueled partly by grain exports to the Soviet Union, had given way to what became known as the farm crisis. A strong dollar choked off exports, land and crop prices slumped, and soaring interest rates ruined overly indebted farmers.

Mr. Hanson, an ex-Marine, slashed labor costs but avoided closing plants and remained upbeat. By the late 1980s, sales were recovering.

Mr. Hanson, who had been crippled by a stroke 12 years ago while golfing, died of complications from pneumonia May 19 at the age of 91.

Deere, founded in 1837 to make steel plows, survived the farm crisis as an independent company, while rivals such as International Harvester were swallowed up.

"He was extremely upbeat," said Robert Lane, who worked under Mr. Hanson in the 1980s and was later CEO of Deere. "In the most difficult of days, he would come into the office energized, optimistic."

Colleagues remember him manning the grill at a picnic celebrating Deere's 150th birthday in 1987.

Robert Arthur Hanson, born Dec. 13, 1924, grew up near the company headquarters in Moline, Ill. His father, Nels Arthur Hanson, worked for Deere. The younger Mr. Hanson earned a degree in economics at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill., and served in the Marines in the Pacific during World War II before joining Deere in 1950.

His rise through the ranks came under CEO William Hewitt, a cosmopolitan executive who spoke French, had studied at Harvard Business School and married into the Deere family. Mr. Hewitt built a new headquarters, stocked it with art including a Chagall painting and a Henry Moore sculpture and added a Japanese rock garden and a pond graced by swans.

Mr. Hewitt was determined to make Deere a global company. One result was that Mr. Hanson was given Spanish lessons and sent abroad. He had postings in Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Spain, and later headed the overseas division.

When Mr. Hanson became chairman and chief executive in 1982, it was no time to buy art masterpieces. Even so, Deere kept the collection amassed by Mr. Hewitt and continued to entertain guests with Bordeaux from its well-stocked wine cellar. Company executives reasoned that analysts, money managers and potential employees visiting from the coasts should be shown that Moline was civilized.

With farm incomes falling, sales of some of Deere's most important types of machinery plunged 70% in the 1980s. Deere cut its payroll to about 38,000 in 1987 from 61,000 in 1981.

A five-month strike by the United Auto Workers in 1986 and 1987 idled plants in six states. Some union members displayed coffins outside the headquarters. Workers ended the strike by accepting a wage freeze and creation of a job-protection plan.

Though some factories operated at less than 50% of capacity, Mr. Hanson didn't close them. Deere used some of its spare capacity to make parts for cars and motor homes.

Under today's management thinking, with more rigorous controls over the costs of idle assets, plants probably would have been closed, said Mr. Lane, who was CEO from 2000 to 2009. But he credited Mr. Hanson with maintaining morale and forcing through unpopular changes. For example, Mr. Hanson made Deere's financing department independent rather than letting it be controlled by executives responsible for selling equipment. That led to a much stronger financing arm, Mr. Lane said.

Bernard Hardiek, another former senior Deere executive, said Mr. Hanson "was not a flashy guy" but supported corporate morale in the dark days by always insisting that the company's best years were still ahead.

After retiring from Deere in 1990, Mr. Hanson and his wife, Patricia, were supporters of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra and donated $8 million for a new science building at Augustana College. They maintained homes in Moline and Jupiter Island, Fla.

Mr. Hanson, who played the piano, during his retirement built a violin and learned to play it. After a stroke confined him to a wheelchair, he continued traveling widely.

Mr. Hanson's survivors include his wife of 61 years and a niece, Lisa Wood of West Chester, Ohio. The couple had no children.

Write to James R. Hagerty at bob.hagerty@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 28, 2016 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

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