Irving Saul Shapiro (1916-2001) was a lawyer for the DuPont Company and was one of the first people outside the du Pont family to become chief executive of the company.

He was born on July 15, 1916 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the eldest of three sons of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants. At the age of eight, his father opened a dry cleaning shop and young Irving helped with the family business from the beginning. Shapiro attended the University of Minnesota, receiving a B.S. degree in 1939 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1941. Shapiro began his legal career in January 1942 at the Office of Price Administration in Washington, D.C., and moved to the Department of Justice in 1948.

Shapiro joined E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company in 1951, taking a position in the Anti-Trust Division of the Legal Department. He played a major role in the 1957 to 1965 antitrust proceedings under which DuPont was required to divest itself of its stock holdings in General Motors. After the trial ended, he was appointed Assistant General Counsel and placed on the fast track for future promotion. In 1970 he was elected Senior Vice President, a director and member of the Executive Committee, and in 1973 he was named to the new position of Vice Chairman. On January 1, 1974, Shapiro was elected Chairman and CEO of DuPont, succeeding Charles B. McCoy (1915-1995).

Shapiro’s term as CEO saw the company exit from its traditional smokeless powder business in 1978. More importantly, falling demand and escalating raw material costs in the textile fibers industry had a devastating impact on the company’s core business throughout Shapiro’s administration. The company concentrated on shoring up its traditional product lines but also cut some spending on research and development. Nevertheless, it was able to produce a major breakthrough, the high-tensile strength fiber Kevlar. The need to control raw materials at a time of economic instability ultimately led to DuPont’s acquisition of Conoco Inc., the number two domestic oil producer. DuPont further diversified through the merger of Remington Arms and the purchase of New England Nuclear Corporation, a manufacturer of chemicals for nuclear medicine.

During his tenure, Shapiro was also a major participant in arranging the merger of the Christiana Securities Company, the du Pont family holding company, into E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. He gained national prominence while serving as the Chairman of the Business Roundtable in 1976 to 1978. Shapiro retired in 1981. Subsequently, he was elected a partner in the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

Shapiro married Charlotte Farsht (1916-2006) and had two children. He died September 13, 2001 in Delaware.