With executive pay, rich pull away from rest of America

It was the 1970s, and the chief executive of a leading U.S. dairy company, Kenneth J. Douglas, lived the good life. He earned the equivalent of about $1 million today. He and his family moved from a three-bedroom home to a four-bedroom home, about a half-mile away, in River Forest, Ill., an upscale Chicago suburb. He joined a country club. The company gave him a Cadillac. The money was good enough, in fact, that he sometimes turned down raises. He said making too much was bad for morale.

Forty years later, the trappings at the top of Dean Foods, as at most U.S. big companies, are more lavish. The current chief executive, Gregg L. Engles, averages 10 times as much in compensation as Douglas did, or about $10 million in a typical year. He owns a $6 million home in an elite suburb of Dallas and 64 acres near Vail, Colo., an area he frequently visits. He belongs to as many as four golf clubs at a time — two in Texas and two in Colorado. While Douglas’s office sat on the second floor of a milk distribution center, Engles’s stylish new headquarters occupies the top nine floors of a 41-story Dallas office tower. When Engles leaves town, he takes the company’s $10 million Challenger 604 jet, which is largely dedicated to his needs, both business and personal.

The evolution of executive grandeur — from very comfortable to jet-setting — reflects one of the primary reasons that the gap between those with the highest incomes and everyone else is widening.

For years, statistics have depicted growing income disparity in the United States, and it has reached levels not seen since the Great Depression. In 2008, the last year for which data are available, for example, the top 0.1 percent of earners took in more than 10 percent of the personal income in the United States, including capital gains, and the top 1 percent took in more than 20 percent. But economists had little idea who these people were. How many were Wall street financiers? Sports stars? Entrepreneurs? Economists could only speculate, and debates over what is fair stalled.

Now a mounting body of economic research indicates that the rise in pay for company executives is a critical feature in the widening income gap.

The largest single chunk of the highest-income earners, it turns out, are executives and other managers in firms, according to a landmark analysis of tax returns by economists Jon Bakija, Adam Cole and Bradley T. Heim. These are not just executives from Wall Street, either, but from companies in even relatively mundane fields such as the milk business.

The top 0.1 percent of earners make about $1.7 million or more, including capital gains. Of those, 41 percent were executives, managers and supervisors at non-financial companies, according to the analysis, with nearly half of them deriving most of their income from their ownership in privately-held firms. An additional 18 percent were managers at financial firms or financial professionals at any sort of firm. In all, nearly 60 percent fell into one of those two categories.

Cancer research crusader Betty Fox dies

Betty Fox, the mother of cancer research icon Terry Fox, has died.

A news release from the Terry Fox Foundation, which she helmed for 30 years, said she "passed away peacefully surrounded by love" on Friday morning.

Fox, who was in her early 70s, was being cared for at a hospice in Chilliwack, B.C., during the final weeks of her life.

"We have greatly appreciated the privacy granted to our family since Betty's illness was shared and are hoping it continues at this difficult time," the Fox family said in statement.

Reactions pour in

B.C. Premier Christy Clark referred to Betty Fox as a "great Canadian" who "embodied all the qualities that as British Columbians we admire."

Heritage Minister James Moore said Betty Fox was a "pillar of support" for her son during his cross-Canada run and that she continued the spirit of Terry's fight against cancer.

As a young bone cancer survivor with an artificial leg, Terry Fox won hearts with his run across Canada to raise money and awareness about the disease. His goal was to persuade every Canadian to donate one dollar to the cause.

His 1980 "Marathon of Hope" was halted near Thunder Bay, Ont., as he suffered a recurrence of the disease.

Terry Fox died on June 28, 1981, but not before becoming, at that time, the youngest person ever to be awarded the Order of Canada.

B.C. NDP Leader Adrian Dix said "from Terry's Marathon of Hope to expanding his legacy through the Terry Fox Foundation, Betty always carried herself with quiet determination and dignity."

Rick Hansen, Canada's Man in Motion, said Betty Fox was a "remarkable woman, who will be sorely missed. Her enthusiasm and compassion were infectious, and her tireless dedication to pursuing Terry's dream inspired millions to believe in a world without cancer."

Betty and her other son, Darrell, set up and ran the Terry Fox Foundation following his death, raising more than $550 million for cancer research in 28 countries through the foundation's annual Terry Fox Runs. The first run was held on Sept. 13, 1981.

Betty Fox quit her job in order to travel the world, listen to the stories of other cancer sufferers and advocate on her son's behalf for increased research funding.

In 2007, Fox had her hair shorn during the Fox Family Head Shave, the opening event of the Terry Fox at Work Day fundraising initiative.

Betty Fox was chosen as one of the Canadian flag bearers in the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Recently, Fox had been working with Vancouver artist Douglas Coupland on a project to redesign the memorial to her son outside BC Place in downtown Vancouver.

The tile archway that was erected in the early 1980s is being replaced with a memorial that will include four bronze statues of the one-legged runner from Port Coquitlam, B.C. The sculptures will show Terry Fox's signature hop-and-run style in stop-action steps.

On June 3, media reports suggested that Betty Fox was suffering from cancer.

But a statement released by the Terry Fox Foundation later that day clarified that she was seriously ill, but not with cancer.

She is survived by her husband, Rolly, and her children Darrell, Fred and Judy.