Robert M. Schaeberle | Was head of Nabisco, 88

Robert M. Schaeberle, 88, who led Nabisco through two mergers but retired as chairman and chief executive in 1986 as the company moved toward one of the biggest and most contentious leveraged buyouts in Wall Street history, died Sept. 29 at an assisted living facility in Exeter, N.H. The cause was complications of Alzheimer's disease.

Mr. Schaeberle, who was with Nabisco for 40 years, became president and chief executive in 1976. He was at the helm when it merged with Standard Brands in 1981 and four years later when it merged with the R.J. Reynolds tobacco company.

When Nabisco joined Standard Brands, creating what was renamed Nabisco Brands, it brought together two powerful business executives who would try to share leadership: Mr. Schaeberle as chairman and F. Ross Johnson as president.

Besides its signature brands Ritz and Oreo, Nabisco brought to the merger Lorna Doone and Cream of Wheat, while Standard Brands was marketing Planters and Baby Ruth. By the time Nabisco was acquired by R.J. Reynolds in 1985, it had sales of $6.25 billion. But by then the relationship had frayed.

"On paper Schaeberle remained top executive of Nabisco Brands, but Johnson found it easy to get his way," Bryan Burrough and John Helyar wrote in their best-selling 1990 book, Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco. "Johnson closed his grip around Schaeberle's company. One by one, veteran Nabisco executives began to vanish, replaced by Johnson men."

When R.J. Reynolds acquired the company, Johnson was named chief executive of RJR Nabisco; Mr. Schaeberle became chairman of its Nabisco Brands division. He retired in December 1986. - N.Y. Times News Service