Negotiated Deal With China : J. Paul Austin, 70; Coca-Cola Chairman

ATLANTA —  J. Paul Austin, the rugged chairman of the Coca-Cola Co. who took the $5-billion corporation from mainland China to Egypt, died at his home Thursday after what was described only as a long illness. He was 70.

The son of a cotton mill executive, Austin rose swiftly through the ranks at Coca-Cola after graduating from Harvard Law School, where he was an Olympic rower. He joined Coca-Cola in 1949 after working for a New York law firm.

Spoke Five Languages

He became president of the Atlanta-based company in 1962, added the title of chief executive officer in 1966 and was named board chairman in 1970. When he retired in 1981, he was succeeded by the current chairman, Roberto C. Goizueta.

An athletic, red-haired executive who spoke five languages, Austin created a team of managers to conquer the international soft-drink market.

Perhaps the best known of his coups came in 1978 when Austin negotiated an exclusive agreement to market Coke in China. The agreement was announced Dec. 13, two days before the United States and China normalized relations. In exchange for sales rights, Coke provided scholarships for Chinese students at Harvard Business School and helped underwrite Chinese soccer and table tennis teams.

Austin also is credited with negotiating an agreement to sell Fanta Orange, a Coca-Cola product, in the Soviet Union, ending Pepsi-Cola’s brief monopoly on U.S. soft drink sales there.

Restored Egypt Operations

In addition, he restored Coca-Cola operations in Egypt after a 12-year boycott. Under that agreement, Coca-Cola transformed a vast expanse of desert into citrus groves and vegetable farms.

When Austin became Coca-Cola president in 1962, the company had earnings of $46.7 million on sales of $567 million. When he retired in 1981, Coca-Cola was 10 times that size although Pepsi had cut into Coke’s domestic sales.

The company’s product line also grew during Austin’s tenure with the addition of new soft drink brands, wines and fruit juices.

In 1967, he established the Coca-Cola Foods Division, which sells coffee and powdered drinks among other things.