Leslie Buck
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
business executive and Holocaust survivor who designed
Designer
A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...
the Anthora
Anthora
The Anthora is a paper coffee cup design that has become iconic of New York City daily life — its name is a play on the word amphora.The cup was originally designed by Leslie Buck of the Sherri Cup Co. in 1963, to appeal to Greek-owned coffee shops in New York City — and was later copied heavily by...
coffee cup
Coffee cup
A coffee cup may refer to a type of container from which coffee is consumed. Coffee cups are typically made of glazed ceramic, and have a single handle, allowing for portability while still hot...
, which has become an iconic symbol of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
since its introduction in the 1960s.
Early life
Buck was born Laszlo Büch into a Jewish family on September 20, 1922, in KhustKhust
Khust is a city located on the Khustets River in the Zakarpattia oblast in western Ukraine. It is near the confluence of the Tisza and Rika Rivers...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. (The city of Khust is now located in the modern-day Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
). Buck's parents died during the Holocaust during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Buck was imprisoned by the Nazis during the occupation, surviving his captivity at Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
Buck moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
following World War II, settling in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Once in the United States he adopted the anglicized name, Leslie Buck. Buck partnered with his brother, Eugene, and ran an import-export business. The two brothers launched a paper cup
Paper cup
A paper cup is a cup made out of paper and often lined with plastic or wax to prevent liquid from leaking out or soaking through the paper. It may be made of recycled paper and is widely used around the world.-History:...
maker based in Mount Vernon, New York
Mount Vernon, New York
Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It lies on the border of the New York City borough of The Bronx.-Overview:...
called Premier Cup sometime in the late 1950s.
Anthora coffee cup
Buck left the family business to take a position with a start-up paper cup manufacturer called the Sherri Cup Company during the mid-1960s. He originally worked as Sherri Cup's sales manager, before becoming the company's marketing directorChief marketing officer
Chief Marketing Officer is a corporate title referring to an executive responsible for various marketing activities in an organization...
.
As marketing director, Buck wanted to get Sherri Cup's products into New York City's diner
Diner
A diner, also spelled dinor in western Pennsylvania is a prefabricated restaurant building characteristic of North America, especially in the Midwest, in New York City, in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey, and in other areas of the Northeastern United States, although examples can be found throughout...
s and other eating establishments, many of which were owned by Greeks or Greek Americans. Buck designed the Anthora
Anthora
The Anthora is a paper coffee cup design that has become iconic of New York City daily life — its name is a play on the word amphora.The cup was originally designed by Leslie Buck of the Sherri Cup Co. in 1963, to appeal to Greek-owned coffee shops in New York City — and was later copied heavily by...
paper coffee cup
Coffee cup
A coffee cup may refer to a type of container from which coffee is consumed. Coffee cups are typically made of glazed ceramic, and have a single handle, allowing for portability while still hot...
using the blue and white colors of the Greek flag, though he was not trained as an artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
. The name of the Anthora coffee cup came from a misprounciation of the Greek word, amphora
Amphora
An amphora is a type of vase-shaped, usually ceramic container with two handles and a long neck narrower than the body...
, as Buck pronounced it with an Eastern European accent.
Buck designed the Anthora cup with the amphora, a Greek vase
Vase
The vase is an open container, often used to hold cut flowers. It can be made from a number of materials including ceramics and glass. The vase is often decorated and thus used to extend the beauty of its contents....
or urn
Urn
An urn is a vase, ordinarily covered, that usually has a narrowed neck above a footed pedestal. "Knife urns" placed on pedestals flanking a dining-room sideboard were an English innovation for high-style dining rooms of the late 1760s...
, down two sides of the cup. The front of the cup pictured three gold-colored hot coffee cups. The cup's motto, "We Are Happy To Serve You", is written across the cup, originally using a Classical font
Font
In typography, a font is traditionally defined as a quantity of sorts composing a complete character set of a single size and style of a particular typeface...
, though the words have changed at times since its design by Buck.
Buck's Anthora cup was introduced in the mid-1960s and began a huge success throughout New York City. The cups became a ubiquitous symbol of the city, appearing in New York themed television shows including Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
. For decades, hundreds of millions of the cups were sold annually. In 1994, the Sherri Cup company sold 500 million Anthora cups.
Though not as widespread as it once was due to the growth of Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
and other coffee chains in New York City, the Solo Cup Company
Solo Cup Company
Solo Cup Company is a manufacturer of consumer packaging products: disposable beverage cups, disposable plates and bowls. Solo Cup Company is located in Lake Forest, Illinois, and in 2006 had sales of $2.4 billion.-History:...
, which acquired the Sherri Cup Company, still sold approximately 200 million Anthora cups in 2005, and continued to manufacture Buck's cup upon request as of 2010.
Later life
Leslie Buck retired from Sherri Cup in 1992. The company gave him 10,000 specially made Anthora cups, each with an inscription, to celebrate his retirement.Leslie Buck died of Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
at his home in Glen Cove, New York
Glen Cove, New York
Glen Cove is a city in Nassau County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2010 Census, the city population was 26,964....
, on April 26, 2010, at the age of 87. He was survived by his wife, Ella Farkas, (The couple had married in 1949); two daughters, Beverly Eisenoff and Linda Rush; one son, Robert Buck and four grandchildren. Though a resident of Glen Cove at the time, Buck had previously resided in Syosset, New York
Syosset, New York
Syosset is a hamlet in Nassau County, New York, in the northeastern section of Town of Oyster Bay near the North Shore of Long Island. The population was 18,829 at the 2010 census...
, and owned a second home in Delray Beach, Florida
Delray Beach, Florida
Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 60,020. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S...
.