Dr. Wingand was born as Jeffrey Wingand in 1942 in New York City. Dr. Wingand attended Dutchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, in upstate New York. After returning home from the United States Airforce, he went on to resume his education at State University of New York in Buffalo. Dr. Wingard received this Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry and his Masters of Arts in biochemistry. He later went on to receive a Ph.D. in biochemistry. (Biography.com)
Dr. Wingand became the highest-ranking executive to go public with a factual account of the wrongdoings of the tobacco industry. He also became known as the most famous "whistleblowers" in American history. Wingand broke his confidentiality agreement and became a consultant with CBS's 60 Minutes producer on a story about the tobacco industry in an efforts to develop a "fire safe" cigarette. In February 1996 CBS aired the 60 Minutes interview with Wigand. At that time Dr. Wingand made public attacks on the tobacco industry directly to the…show more content… Wingand made it known that he was a fighter and no matter what the cost, he would not give up until his voice was heard. Through all of the threats, the loss of his job, the of his marriages and losing his family he felt like having the truth revealed about the harmfulness of the tobacco company and the truth being revealed to the public was worth all of it. Most importantly Dr. Wingand had the perception that once profits and sales became more important that the public’s health and safety ethics was no longer an issue for the corporation. It was clear the bottom line meant more than human lives. Dr. Wingand never wanted to be known as whistleblower or a hero, he only wanted the truth to be revealed about the dangers of tobacco. He felt it was his ethical responsibility to educate and inform the world about the dangers that the tobacco companies had failed to acknowledge.
