CONGRATULATIONS: For the Record
For DM legend Nat Ross’ birthday, the Direct Marketing Idea Exchange arranged for a tribute in the May 24 Congressional Record. Presented by Rep. Jose E. Serrano (D-NY), the tribute reads:
“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a great civil rights and women’s rights leader, an outstanding individual who has devoted his life to his family and to serving the community, Mr. Nat Ross. For the past 60 years, he has played a major role in virtually every significant movement for civil rights, empowerment, and social and economic justice. Mr. Ross will turn 95 on June 25.
“Born to immigrant parents who labored as garment workers, Nat Ross started on his path to the American Dream when he was awarded a four-year scholarship to Columbia University. There he was deeply influenced by a faculty that included John Dewey, who would become Franklin Roosevelt’s `brain trust.’ Nat dedicated himself to education and to two emerging social issues, civil rights and women’s rights. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1927. He started his career as a printing salesman with Lincoln Graphic Arts, becoming an expert in direct mail marketing. In the 1930s he served in the civil rights movement, volunteering in Alabama in the midst of the infamous Scottsboro Boys case. There he would meet Johnnie West, who served as a war correspondent during World War II. They were married for 55 years until her passing.
“Mr. Speaker, Nat’s second career started in 1967 when he started teaching direct marketing at New York University. Under his leadership, the New York University Center for Direct Marketing was born and is now considered the prominent program in the field. Nat also founded the Direct Marketing Idea Exchange, a discussion club including the most prestigious talents in the business. In 1984 he was named to the Direct Marketing Association’s Hall of Fame.
“Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in wishing a happy 95th birthday to Nat Ross.”
Why a tribute in the Congressional Record?
As Edmund Scientific chief executive officer Robert Edmund says, “What else can you get someone who’s 95?”
