Daniel E. Provost III; Tobacco Industry Executive

Daniel E. Provost III, 78, a tobacco industry executive who got Arthur Godfrey and Ronald Reagan to endorse Chesterfield cigarettes. Provost joined the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency in 1948 and was assigned to the Liggett account until his retirement in 1984 as the tobacco company’s chief spokesman. He was a power in the early days of television when cigarette companies sponsored programs. People such as Godfrey and Perry Como were important Chesterfield spokesmen. After Liggett-sponsored research found in 1954 that tobacco caused cancer in mice, the tobacco company began research to develop a safe cigarette. Provost helped keep the research secret. In Palm Springs on Oct. 13 of heart failure.