American Greetings President Leaves Company James Spira named as Vice Chairman CLEVELAND, June 26 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ -- American Greetings Corporation (NYSE: AM) announced today that President and Chief Operating Officer Edward Fruchtenbaum has resigned his positions with the company, effective immediately. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Morry Weiss will assume the additional duties of President and Chief Operating Officer of the company, and James C. Spira, who has served on the company's board of directors since 1998, has been appointed to the new position of Vice Chairman. "Ed and I came to the decision this is the appropriate time for him to move on to interests outside American Greetings," said Weiss. "We thank Ed for his many years of service." The senior executives of American Greetings four major business units -- North American Greeting Cards, International, Consumer Products and Carlton Cards Retail -- will report directly to Weiss. "Our operations are in the hands of very capable people who are carrying out our strategic plan and helping deliver solid profitability and long-term shareholder value," said Weiss. "I look forward to working more closely with them." Spira will also report to Weiss and will be responsible for finance, legal, planning, information technology, human resources, communications and AmericanGreetings.com, the company's Internet division. He will also take a leadership role in corporate strategy and development. Weiss added, "We are very fortunate to be able to tap Jim Spira's considerable expertise and familiarity with our company. He brings strong new leadership, strategic and technology skills that will benefit American Greetings as we continue to strengthen our core greeting card business, grow emerging businesses and explore new opportunities. We welcome Jim to a more active role at American Greetings." Spira, 57, is a management consultant who has counseled American Greetings for more than 30 years on matters ranging from materials management to information technology and from sales management to re-engineering the creative process. In that capacity, he played a major role in the development of AmericanGreetings.com, which is among the 20th most-visited sites on the Internet. He also serves as non-executive chairman of AmericanGreetings.com. "As a director, I have come to recognize and appreciate the phenomenal growth opportunities at American Greetings," said Spira. "I am pleased to be able to leverage my longtime professional relationship with the company to take advantage of these opportunities and create value for our shareholders." Weiss added, "Having recently released strong earnings results for our First Quarter, we believe we are positioned to achieve our goals for the year." About American Greetings American Greetings is the world's largest publicly held creator, manufacturer and distributor of greeting cards and social expression products. Its staff of artists, designers and writers comprises one of the largest creative departments in the world and helps consumers "say it best" by supplying more than 15,000 greeting card designs to retail outlets in nearly every English-speaking country. The company markets greeting cards under the brand names American Greetings, Forget Me Not, Carlton Cards and Gibson Greetings. Business units include Balloon Zone, DateWorks calendars, Designers' Collection stationery, DesignWare party goods, GuildHouse candles, Learning Horizons educational products, Magnivision reading glasses, and Plus Mark seasonal gift wrap and boxed greetings. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, American Greetings employs more than 21,000 associates around the world and drives more than $2 billion in annual sales. For more information on the company, visit http://www.americangreetings.com on the World Wide Web. The statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those protected in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to, the following risks: retail bankruptcies and consolidations, successful integration of acquisitions, a weak retail environment and competitive terms of sale offered to customers to expand or maintain business. See the company's Form 10K for the year ended February 28, 2000, for other risks and uncertainties that may affect future results. SOURCE American Greetings Corporation CONTACT: Investors, Dale Cable, Vice President, Treasurer, or Media, Jeff Petit, Vice President, Communications, ext. 4133, of American Greetings Corporation, 216-252-7300 Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/044150.html or fax, 800-758-5804, ext. 044150 Web site: http://www.americangreetings.com