Donald Tober, whose Sugar Foods Corp. markets the Sweet’N Low substitute and other restaurant supplies, died Friday in what New York police described as a suicide. He was 89.
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 owned a horse farm in Dutchess County, New York. Mr. Tober also once owned a breed called Sweet’N Low that competed in horse jumping competitions.
Mr. Tober and Stephen Odell own Sugar Foods, which was founded in 1948 by Mr. Tober’s father, Harry Tober. The company originally sold sugar in 100-pound bags, but it was later much more profitable to sell it in small packages designed for restaurants and cafes. Sugar Foods did not manufacture Sweet’N Low, but made the brand’s pink packets in restaurants. In recent years, Sugar Foods has sold the brand N’Joy sweetener instead of Sweet’N Low.
Sweet’N Low, manufactured 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. As a child, he sometimes helped his father deliver sugar. He earned an undergraduate 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.