’Winston Man’ Alan Landers Dies After Battle with Cancer

Alan Landers — best known as the face of Winston cigarettes — passed away at the age of 68 after a long struggle with throat cancer, the Associated Press reported Mar. 4.

Landers, whose legal name was Allan Levine, posed for Winston in the 1960’s and 1970’s. After realizing the health ramifications associated with smoking cigarettes, Landers became an outspoken anti-smoking advocate and sued four major U.S. cigarette companies in 1995.

Landers began smoking as a child, and was compelled to smoke while posing for magazine and billboard cigarette advertisements. He quit smoking after being diagnosed with lung cancer in 1987.

Landers’ liability case against the tobacco industry, filed in Florida after a class-action lawsuit was denied, was set to be heard in April. However, because both of his parents are deceased and he had no wife or children, it is unclear whether the case will go forward.

“He wanted his justice. He wanted his day in court,” Landers’ attorney Tim Howard said. “And that’s the challenge with all these cigarette cases…When the courts drag out justice, the individuals die.”