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Longtime editor of Advertising Age Fred Danzig died Thursday. He joined Advertising Age in 1962 as senior editor in the New York bureau, became executive editor in 1969 and served as editor from 1984 until 1994, retiring in 1995. He was 85.
He was known as a sharp observer of the industry and a fierce competitor when it came to breaking news. But he was equally known as a gentleman, full of energy and quick with a cheerful word.
"Fred was a news guy -- he was the TV reporter at the old UPI -- and he loved nothing better than chasing big stories and later mobilizing the troops for an all-court press on Friday, our deadline day," said Ad Age Editor in Chief Rance Crain....
....Among the big Ad Age scoops of his day: in 1986 breaking the news of the "Big Bang," when three large agency networks, BBDO, Doyle Dane Bernbach and Needham Harper, merged to form Omnicom. And in 1992, under Mr. Danzig's leadership, Ad Age ran a bold editorial titled "Old Joe must go," arguing that R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. should stop using the cartoon character to help sell Camel cigarettes. The company pulled the campaign five years later.
Prior to coming to Ad Age, Mr. Danzig was a reporter for UPI. He was the first entertainment reporter to interview Elvis Presley, when Mr. Presley early in his career made a trip to New York, and he amassed an extraordinary collection of the singer's early 45s.....
....While today's editors and journalists are figuring out how to take advantage of the explosion of digital- and social-media outlets, Mr. Danzig, too, presided during a technology-enabled evolutionary era, during which Ad Age began to present news and information in a variety of new formats, including via the Daily Fax and the Advertising Age Online Edition on Prodigy...
Mr. Danzig had served as an occasional Ad Age contributor since his retirement. In 2005, as Ad Age celebrated its 75-year anniversary, he penned a piece recalling his memories and Ad Age's role covering the industry during the time he was an editor, including a trip to Moscow to present an advertising workshop just as the Cold War was winding down. ....Mr. Danzig, who was born in Springfield, Mass., on Sept. 17, 1925, graduated from Rye High School and received his journalism degree from New York University. He served his country in the 29th infantry division in WWII where he received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. His journalism career began in Herkimer, N.Y., with the Evening Telegram and continued with The Port Chester Daily Item before joining UPI and, subsequently, Ad Age.....
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