Leslie Buck

Buck was born Laszlo Büch into a Jewish family on September 20, 1922, in Khust, Czechoslovakia. (The city of Khust is now located in the modern-day Ukraine).[1] Buck's parents died during the Holocaust during World War II.[1] Buck was imprisoned by the Nazis during the occupation, surviving his captivity at Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.[1]

Buck moved to the United States following World War II, settling in New York City. Once in the United States he adopted the anglicized name, Leslie Buck.[1][2] Buck partnered with his brother, Eugene, and ran an import-export business.[1] The two brothers launched a paper cup maker based in Mount Vernon, New York called Premier Cup[2] sometime in the late 1950s.[1]

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.[1] He originally worked as Sherri Cup's sales manager, before becoming the company's marketing director.[1]

As marketing director, Buck wanted to get Sherri Cup's products into New York City's diners and other eating establishments, many of which were owned by Greeks or Greek Americans.[1] Buck designed the Anthora paper coffee cup using the blue and white colors of the Greek flag, though he was not trained as an artist.[1] The name of the Anthora coffee cup came from a mispronunciation of the Greek word, amphora, as Buck pronounced it with an Eastern European accent.[1]

Buck designed the Anthora cup with the amphora, a Greek vase or urn,[2] down two sides of the cup.[1] The front of the cup pictured three gold-colored hot coffee cups.[1] The cup's motto, "We Are Happy To Serve You", is written across the cup, originally using a Classical font, though the words have changed at times since its design by Buck.[1]

Buck's Anthora cup was introduced in the mid-1960s and became a huge success throughout New York City.[1] The cups became a ubiquitous symbol of the city, appearing in New York themed television shows including Law & Order.[2] For decades, hundreds of millions of the cups were sold annually. In 1994, the Sherri Cup company sold 500 million Anthora cups.[1]

Though not as widespread as it once was due to the growth of Starbucks and other coffee chains in New York City,[2] the Solo Cup Company, 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.[1]

Leslie Buck retired from Sherri Cup in 1992.[1] The company gave him 10,000 specially made Anthora cups, each with an inscription, to celebrate his retirement.[1]

Leslie Buck died of Parkinson's disease at his home in Glen Cove, New York, on April 26, 2010, at the age of 87.[2] 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.[1] Though a resident of Glen Cove at the time, Buck had previously resided in Syosset, New York, and owned a second home in Delray Beach, Florida.[1]