Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Jerome Bethel Jr. GRAY
Jerome B. Gray, 86, a leading figure in Philadelphia's advertising industry, died Monday at his home in West Chester. He had suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
Mr. Gray retired in 1972 as chairman of Gray & Rogers Inc., the ad agency he founded in 1927. However, he immediately became creative chairman of his wife's firm, Thelma Gray Public Relations Inc. at 320 Walnut St., continuing in that position until his illness began to sap his energies two years ago.
He was the son of a deputy state librarian and the nephew of a Philadelphia newspaperman, and people who came to his boyhood home in West Chester were people who wrote for a living. He caught the fever and wrote his first ad copy at the age of 10, receiving $1 for it. At age 14, he was writing, setting type, printing and delivering his own neighborhood newspaper.
Eventually, he became an executive with a reputation for a quick wit, a flaring temper and a sense of humor. One example of his humor came one night as he stood on a speaker's dais, seeking a way to handle a less-than-atten tive audience.
After a few unsuccessful attempts to win attention, he picked up a large pitcher, raised it above his head and, as the audience lapsed into silence, calmly poured the ice water over his head.
"Now then," he said pleasantly, "as I was saying . . . "
It was such an effective device that he used it again and again. It became part of the legend that grew up around him.
Educated at the Friends School in West Chester and the Hill School in
Pottstown, he graduated in time to enlist in the Army to fight in World War I. He served as a sergeant major in America's first bombing squadron.
Back from France a year later, he answered an ad from the International Correspondence Schools offering a course in advertising. He learned a great deal, he said, particularly about truth in advertising.
"My respect for ICS went up when I flunked the finals," he said. "I had had a feeling they would pass me, no matter what. So I took it again and I passed."
His first job was for American Stores Co., writing copy about Acme's food and grocery products. A series of jobs followed until 1927, when he founded his own advertising agency with one account and one employee. After the stock market crash of 1929, there wasn't much left but hope.
In 1931, he formed a partnership with Edmund H. Rogers. The firm became Gray & Rogers.
Mr. Rogers had a stage presence, a feel for radio and television. So the agency entered the new field. Another employee, Thelma Beresin, who became a partner in the agency and Mr. Gray's wife, led the firm into public relations.
In the days after World War II, the agency developed long-term relationships with clients such as the John B. Stetson Co., Bell Telephone of Pennsylvania, the Chilton Co., Hamilton Paper and Krylon Inc.
Then there were the banks, Atlantic City hotels, pharmaceuticals, mushrooms, ice cream, grooming products and transportation firms, the things that make the advertising world turn.
It was a time when he began to break away from the pack. When most agencies were turning to market testing and research, Mr. Gray followed intuition.
He preferred to rely on his own judgment, rather than accept what a cross- section sampling of bus drivers, secretaries and clerks believed.
He believed in personal attention to detail. He gave it.
To meet the load, Mr. Gray developed a routine that took him to the office at 8 a.m. daily and kept him there until midnight and after.
As the agency grew, he found time for other things. He learned to play poker, collected miniatures of penquins and golfed. He carried a 2 handicap and he served as president of the Merion Golf Club and as president of the Philadelphia Advertising Golf Association. He founded the World Golf Tournament.
Then there was his civic work. For years, he donated his services to the American Red Cross, headed public relations for the Community Chest and United Fund and directed committees for War Bonds during World War II and Savings Bonds in the years that followed.
Mr. Gray was a past president of the Midday Club and a member of the Metropolitan Club in New York and the Winter Golf League of Advertising Interests.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his daughters, Jane Jamison and Alice, and three grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Friday at the Church of the Redeemer, Pennswood Road and Fisher Avenue, Bryn Mawr.
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