Donald Tober, who 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 New York’s Dutch county. Tober also once had a thoroughbred named Sweet’N Low who competed in horse jumping events.
Tober and Stephen Odell owned Sugar Foods, founded in 1948 by Mr. Tober’s father. Tober, Harry Tober. The company originally sold sugar in 100-pound bags, but later it turned out to be much more profitable to sell it in small packages designed for restaurants and cafes. Sugar Foods did not manufacture Sweet’N Low, but turned the brand’s pink packages into a catering device. In recent years, Sugar Foods has sold the sweetener brand N’Joy 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. Sweet’N Low’s name came from a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Donald Gibbs Tober was born in 1931 and grew up in New York. As a child, he sometimes helped his father deliver sugar. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in law from Harvard University. After working as a lawyer, he joined his father’s company in 1958.