Frank R. Milliken; Former President of Kennecott Copper Corp.

Frank R. Milliken, 77, who headed the Kennecott Copper Corp. when it was the world’s largest copper producer and a leading gold and silver processor. Milliken was president of Kennecott, headquartered in New York City, during the 1960s and 1970s, an era of ups and downs brought on by strikes, the nationalization of the company’s Chilean mines and new environmental rules. Under Milliken’s leadership, Kennecott staged a takeover of the Carborundum Co. in 1977. But the next year, the Curtiss-Wright Corp. tried to take over Kennecott through a shareholder proxy fight to oust Milliken. Critics, angry about the company’s declining earnings, accused him of incompetence. Milliken prevailed, retaining his position and his board of directors with 54% of the shareholders’ votes. He retired in 1979. On Dec. 4 at his winter home in Tucson of a heart attack.