Howard Solomon built Forest Laboratories by licensing drugs. He learned about the Danes' antidepressant, citalopram, while searching for deals in the United States and Europe. He didn't license it because he thought the U.S. market was saturated with drugs to treat depression.
His older son, Andrew, a writer, had fallen into a deep depression. Mr. Solomon took weeks off from his job to care for Andrew in his apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He talked to experts about pharmaceuticals. He was with him on the tour to promote his novel.
Andrew Solomon said in an email that his father was like a reef that took the violent waves of a frightening world and broke them down into manageable undulations before they reached the beach where he stood.
Two types of antidepressants were not able to help Andrew. His father decided to make the deal for the billion-dollar drug for Forest Labs after he saw his experience with it.
Solomon died at his home in New York. Andrew Solomon confirmed the death.
Howard Solomon read from the manuscript of Andrew's book "The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression" when he introduced Celexa to the Forest Labs sales force in 1998.
He said he would be on medication for a long time. I look at the pills in my hand and sometimes they seem to say that the future may be all right and that I owe it to myself to live on and see.
The Noonday Demon was published in 2001. Andrew Solomon wrote, "For my father, who gave me life not once, but twice." It won the National Book Award for nonfiction.
Howard Solomon read from the book "The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression" when he introduced his son to the Forest Laboratories sales force.
Howard Solomon was born in the Bronx. David made neckties out of dress remnants. His mother worked with her husband.
Howard majored in history at the City College of New York after serving in the Army in Hawaii. After graduating from Yale Law School, he worked for various law firms and then started his own firm, specializing in corporate law, and became the company's outside counsel.
The company's chairman, Hans Lowey, and three other executives were accused of inflating profits and he was appointed president and chief executive in 1977. He sold the company of divisions that made candy and vitamins and then licensing and marketing pharmaceuticals aggressively.
H. Lundbeck, the company that developed the product, licensed it to Forest Labs. The licensing deals with other U.S. companies had fallen through, so Mr. Solomon was reluctant to speak to the Lundbeck chief executive.
Phil Satow, a former executive vice president of Forest Labs, said that Howard flew toDenmark to meet with him. They developed a strong relationship because they were both lovers of ballet.
In 2003 sales of Celexa reached over a billion dollars. In 2007, the upgraded version of Celexa, called Lexapro, was licensed by Forest Labs.
There was a downside to the success of Celexa. In 2010, Forest Labs paid $313 million to settle criminal and civil complaints that a subsidiary, Forest Pharmaceuticals, had illegally promoted the drug to children and adolescents.
When the settlement was announced, the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts said that Forest Pharmaceuticals chose to pursue corporate profits over its obligations to the F.D.A.
The company denied the accusations. Mr. Solomon said that they remained dedicated to ensuring that they operate in full compliance with all laws and regulations.
Carl C. Icahn had argued that the company had lost billions of dollars of shareholder value over the previous decade, but Forest Labs won a proxy fight against him in 2011. In 2012 one of Mr. Icahn's nominees was elected to the company's board after a second proxy fight.
Mr. Solomon wrote a letter to Mr. Icahn that said his discourse had shown a lack of strategic ideas. It has been filled with accusations, innuendo and distortion of facts.
At some point, Mr. Solomon reached out to Mr. Icahn.
Mr. Icahn said that they were friendly. I thought he was a nice guy. He said he didn't agree with the way he ran the business, but he was a nice guy who was happy with the outcome. He made a lot of money.
Mr. Solomon announced his retirement as chief executive and was replaced by an executive friendly with Mr. Icahn. Actavis paid $25 billion to acquire Forest Labs. Mr. Solomon left after the acquisition and formed a family investment firm with his son David, who was a Forest Labs executive.
Mr. Solomon is survived by his wife, Sarah Billinghurst Solomon, a former assistant general manager of artistic affairs at the Metropolitan Opera, and five children. Carolyn Solomon died in 1991.
Mr. Solomon had interests in opera. He paid for piano lessons at the Manhattan School of Music when he was a teenager, and he also sold operas to patrons of the old Metropolitan Opera on 39th Street and Broadway. He was a board member of Lincoln Center and chairman of the Met's finance committee.
He said that his desire to work into his 80s was inspired by Giuseppe Verdi.
Andrew Solomon said that Verdi wrote "Falstaff" in his 80s. He would say that he wrote some of the greatest music ever written in his 80s. He wanted to follow that path.
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