Newman’s Own Foundation CEO to step down

Miriam Nelson, the CEO of Westport-based Newman”™s Own Foundation, is leaving the nonprofit in the midst of a legal challenge by two daughters of the late Paul Newman.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Nelson, who became CEO in January 2020, informed the board of directors that she is stepping down at the end of this year.

“I am confident that the board of directors will soon find a CEO that will continue the strategic road map that we started,” said Nelson in a statement to The Wall Street Journal.

Board”™s Chairman Michael Clayton confirmed the story, issuing a statement that said the foundation hired a search firm in June and was “well along with the search” for a new chief executive.

In a story reported by the Business Journal”™s Justin McGown in September, Susan Kendall Newman and Elinor T. “Nell” Newman are plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the foundation. The sisters are seeking $1.6 million in damages and are also seeking assurances that their foundations will each be given $400,000 annually to spend on charitable work, claiming their father explicitly stated that sum was to be given to the foundations set up for all five of his daughters. The money originates from the proceeds earned by the popular Newman”™s Own grocery product line ”” the foundation receives 100% of the after-tax profits from the product”™s sales to support various educational and charitable organizations.

The lawsuit claimed the Newman”™s Own Foundation has only provided each daughter”™s foundation with $200,000. According to the lawsuit, the foundation almost immediately altered the plans that Paul Newman had laid out in living wills, recorded statements and written correspondence in the years prior to his death in 2008.

The foundation did not offer any comment on the lawsuit in connection with Nelson”™s departure.