Marshall B. Bass, a retired senior vice president at RJR Nabisco, died Nov. 26 after a long illness at his home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA, reports The Winston-Salem Journal. He was 93.
After joining R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in 1968, Bass rose through the management ranks and became the first black person elected as an executive in what was then R.J. Reynolds Industries Inc.
Bass retired as senior vice president for global public relations for the company, which was then known as RJR Nabisco Inc.