Friedrich “Fritz” Bossert, the longtime ceo of Lancaster Leaf Tobacco Co., passed away over the weekend.
Bossert was one of the most respected behind-the-scenes people in the cigar industry, serving as the head of one of the most important tobacco suppliers for the cigar industry, both premium cigars and mass-market. Lancaster Leaf is part of Universal, a multi-billion dollar corporation that is one of the largest tobacco growers in the world. Lancaster—based in Lancaster, Pa.—focuses on dark air-cured tobacco, the type used for cigars. For years, Bossert oversaw an operation that worked in Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Paraguay, the Philippines and the United States.
Last year, the company announced that he would be retiring on July 1, 2024. Richard Wood was named as Bossert’s successor.
Prior to his time at Universal, Bossert was the vice-president of Gebrüder Kulenkampff, a German subsidiary of Universal, and the vp of tobacco purchasing for General Cigar Co.
While Bossert was not a well-known name within much of the cigar industry, he was essential for a long list of the cigar industry’s largest factories and many of the small ones, too. Lancaster Leaf grows and processes tobacco from all over the world, which made Bossert’s expertise invaluable to many. Nearly every established factory in the non-Cuban world buys tobacco from Universal and for those responsible for the tobacco at those factories, Bossert was oftentimes the main point of contact. In recent years, he became a bit more prominent than his normal approach of being behind the scenes. Drew Estate publicly credited Bossert with his personal assistance on the company’s Liga Privada and MUWAT Kentucky Fire Cured lines. Last year, Toscano—the Italian cigar manufacturer—asked Bossert to co-host a seminar at PCA 2023.
“We called him ‘Papa Fritz’ because he lovingly took care of everyone who had a deep passion for the leaf,” said Jonathan Drew, co-founder and president of Drew Estate, in a message to Woggi. “For 23 years, I’ve traveled the entire world with Fritz Bossert, who I’m proud to call my leaf mentor and one of my best friends. I used to wear yellow or blue tinted glasses, and he would always say, ‘Jonathan, please take your glasses off when we are looking at leaf together. What are you crazy? This would have gotten me fired at my previous job if I would use colored lenses when buying leaf.’”
Featured image via Jonathan Drew