A chance encounter with a mutual friend of the late J.I. Rodale led to a series of discussions about two new magazines published by Rodale Press called “Prevention” and “Organic Gardening and Farming”. Subsequently we moved to Allentown, PA in 1952 when he was appointed Director of Advertising of Rodale Press. After a few years, during which time ad revenues more than tripled for both publications, my father ...always an agency man, rarely a corporate man ...started a specialized ad agency for clients in the vitamin and health industry who advertised in “Prevention” and who also had collateral direct mail marketing and sales programs. All his clients were competitors...all needed his specialized expertise ...and all trusted his discretion.
“Prevention” went on to increase its subscription base almost every quarter for the next 35 years. That means an agency like my father’s, which billed 15% on all ad buys, got a raise almost every quarter. I once asked him how he came on such a “racket”. He answered that only an advertising professional with 30 years’ experience in all phases of advertising could have appreciated what a truly unique situation this was.
My personal educational background includes a private boarding school (the Severn School in Annapolis, MD) a liberal arts college (Gettysburg College), graduate study in history (Villanova University) and post-graduate study in Radio and Television Writing (New York University).
My first real job was in advertising as a staff writer at a radio station where I wrote advertising copy, public service announcements and some news. Having to compress (on tight deadlines) two minutes worth of copy into 10-second and 30- second spots will, I found, develop your writing skills faster and better than most creative writing courses.
For the next few years, I worked in politics, doing advertising and media for state and local political campaigns. Concurrently with that, my brother and I had a small agency “Horse Media” which handled advertising and marketing counsel for clients in the thoroughbred racing and breeding industry which we kept going for many years while both working in other areas.
My political involvement led to a job as Principal Speechwriter and Researcher for the then Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania during the two years he was running for Governor in his own right.
After his unsuccessful campaign for Governor, I was unexpectedly offered a job by a major public relations firm in Pittsburgh, then Ketchum McLeod and Grove, now the Ketchum Group. Our clients were many of the Fortune 500 companies which were then headquartered in Pittsburgh.
At that age..29 years old ...I felt increasing uncomfortable with the lack of precision in measuring performance at a major agency. We regularly submitted booklets of clippings and video tapes to our clients, but at that time lacked a methodology of verifying how well we were really doing for them.
The allure of the brokerage industry was that a precise measurement of how well your advice did for clients was printed in the Wall Street Journal every morning. I had an opportunity to start as a trainee with Bache Halsey Stuart Shields and took it.
Since, then, I have worked as a Broker and Branch Manager at major Wall Street firms Prudential-Bache (now Wachovia) Thomson McKinnon (now Wachovia) and Shearson Lehman Brothers (now Smith Barney). As the firms got bigger, more remote and less customer-oriented, I transitioned to become an independent financial advisor where it’s easier to maintain quality control over the entire financial advisory process.
To be honest, over the years I have worked with an extremely wide and diverse client base ...from steel executives and garment workers getting early retirement distributions to a urologist and a brain surgeon both with extremely large and complex financial and tax problems.
I must say, though, that the most rewarding associations I had were with clients in the advertising, public relations, arts and media fields, I enjoyed working with them personally and had an intuitive insight into their financial needs and problems. Among them have been:
- a free-lance fashion photographer
- an Arts Administrator
- a Publisher of a major national magazine
- Managing Partner of a significant regional advertising agency
- Director of Advertising for a major publishing house.
- Illustrator of medical textbooks
- Director of Public Relations for an internationally regarded health care facility
- A premier national radio “Voice”
- Leading Political Consultant/Lobbyist in Pennsylvania
- Shakespearean Actress with extensive commercial credits
- Sound Studio Owner/Operator
- Successful Screenwriter/Novelist
- Principals of various mid-size (under 25 employees) ad agencies
- Owner/Publisher of regional advertising magazine