Victor Kiam dies.

May 29, 2001 6:18 AM

Victor Kiam dies. This is quite a shame... just thought I'd post and let all know
posted by monkeyJuice (9 comments total)

Yes, let's all mourn the death of a corporate president who appeared in television advertising. Oh, such fond memories.
posted by fleener at 6:35 AM on May 29, 2001

did i say mourn NO!!

couldnt give a shit what u do
posted by monkeyJuice at 6:39 AM on May 29, 2001

Wow. This is what I love about online communities.
posted by ktheory at 6:43 AM on May 29, 2001

Monkeyjuice, if stating the obvious upsets you, perhaps you should rethink your position. I don't consider this a "shame" anymore than the death of any other person. If anything, it's less of a "shame" because he lived a long life, and I'm sure had a lot of money to provide well for himself.

Now, searching the news this morning, I consider it a shame that we have such animal-hating people in this world.
posted by fleener at 7:01 AM on May 29, 2001

The guy who liked the shavers so much he "bought the company," bought the farm...
posted by iblog at 8:17 AM on May 29, 2001

I remember Kiam not only for the shaver ads, but as the owner of my home team (I lived in Halifax at the time) New England Patriots. You might remember the uproar when a woman journalist was harassed in the New England Patriots locker room. Kiam ended up making an insensitive joke about how she got to see "Patriot missiles" close up.
posted by tranquileye at 9:01 AM on May 29, 2001

There's a Victor K. Kiam Collection in the New Orleans Museum of Art. I remember thinking, "He liked this African and Hawaiian art so much, he bought it." Actually, it was mostly donations, I think, but . . .
posted by raysmj at 10:15 AM on May 29, 2001

Does Kiam's death have a symbolic value, in that he represented (truthfully or not) "Corporate America with a Human Face"? At least, you can't imagine Bill Gates advertising MS in the same way, or being regarded with a certain kind of kitsch affection...
posted by holgate at 10:42 AM on May 29, 2001

There was a semi-concealed laugh in his original commercial voiceovers which drove me crazy for years and years. Kind of mediocre-result shaves, too. So yes, just like MS.
posted by ParisParamus at 10:48 AM on May 29, 2001