Levi Strauss gets first non-family leader

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- The unbroken succession of family members who have led San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co. since the business was founded in 1853 ends in February.

Chairman Robert Haas is retiring as head of the multi-billion-dollar blue jeans company and for the first time in 155 years the top job goes to someone with no ties to Levi Strauss.

Haas, the great-great-grand nephew of the founder, will be replaced by T. Gary Rogers, a member of the board since 1998, the San Francisco Chronicle said.

The saga of the long-lived denim company is woven into the history of San Francisco, from the Gold Rush that lured Levi Strauss, a Bavarian immigrant, from New York to seek opportunities in the West, to the extensive philanthropic contributions by the family dynasty that succeeded him.

Levi Strauss is one of the world's largest brand-name apparelmakers, with sales of $4.2 billion in 2006.