Cullman, Joseph

Joseph F. Cullman, 3rd
Born: April 09, 1912
Died: April 30, 2004
Hometown: New York, New York, United States
Citizenship: United States
Inducted: 1990

Contributions
International Tennis Hall of Fame President 1982-88
   Executive Committee Chair 1988-present

 U.S. Open Tournament Chairman 1969-

Other
Philip Morris President, Chairman & CEO 1957-78
   Chairman Emeritus & Director Emeritus 1984-present
   Chairman Sec. Committee 1978-84

A lifelong love of the game led Joseph Frederick Cullman III to become a working angel in tennis, a moonlighter away from his principal position as chairman and CEO of the Philip Morris Company. As such he benefited tennis extraordinarily in several ways. He was chairman of the U.S. Open at Forest Hills in 1969 and 1970, formative years, and was instrumental in getting the original Open, 1968, televised.

In 1970, at the behest of another Hall of Fame member, Gladys Heldman, he came to the financial and spiritual rescue of the women, up to then second-class citizens of tournament tennis. With the backing of one of his products, Virginia Slims, a separate women’s professional circuit was born. It continues as the Corel Tour.

He was president and chairman of the International Tennis Hall of Fame 1982-88, a period during which the Hall’s home, the revered and historic Newport Casino, made a recovery from years of decline, and became a sound and viable institution. A Yale alumnus, he built a tennis complex, the Cullman Center, for his alma mater. A fervent player, he enjoyed nothing more than a game on the Casino lawn. A New Yorker, born April 9, 1912, he entered the Hall of Fame in 1990.

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