Bernie Fixler
care of DMEF
6 E. 43rd Street
New York. New York 10017
October 24, 1984
Mr. Richard Rodgson
Sargeant House
P. O. Box 46
Westtown, PA 19395
Dear Dick:
Direct marketing is a popular term today, but you and I can remember, not all that long ago, when it wasn’t too highly thought of by the marketing “elite” or, I guess, the public at large.
And very few of us stood up in front of others to praise it.
But one who did was a wiry, peppery, enthusiastic little fellow who, when he stepped in front of an audience to talk about direct mail
...grew giant high.
He moved, barked, shouted, whispered, coaxed and finally mesmerized those audiences into believing in direct mail, too.
Of course, you know who I mean. Bob Dale.
He’d laugh if I called him a Giant, but that’s what he was.
He had presence. When Bob stepped into the room, you knew things were going to be different.
He was full of vitality and enthusiasm-plus. Even writing about him now peps me up.
And he had commitment. He’d talk to students, to meetings, to business groups, to anyone who was willing to listen about ,his favorite subject --- direcf ghaweting.(direct marketing?)
Bob’s been gone from us for some time now, but I think about him often. He was a real pioneer in educating others to the value of what we and our friends do or did.
People like Bob --- Giants like Bob --- shouldn’t be forgotten.
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But that can easily happen unless those who knew him do something concrete to keep his memory alive… A “Robert Dale Memorial” that really amounts to something.
Giant size, to match Bob.
I think the right place for a memorial like that is in the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation. Bob helped the Foundation a great deal in its early days, when it needed help badly. He taught at Collegiate Institutes with Ed Mayer and Paul Sampson and enjoyed the give and take with college students. He’d love the way direct marketing education has spread in the colleges today.
So I’m calling on you, and the many other friends of Bob, to join with me in setting up a substantial fund to establish a permanent memorial to him.
I’ve started the fund with a $10,000 gift and I hope I get a basketful of others to match that --- or put it in the shade. But the size of your gift is less important than the size of your interest, for I’d like to ask you, also, to do what I cannot… locate others who knew Bob and encourage them to join with us.
Naturally, I’ve enclosed a card --- and a stamped, addressed envelope --- Bob wouldn’t have me do it any other way. In fact, he’d probably have made me add some kind of extra “goodie” for quick response and a lift letter of some sort.
I won’t do that exactly, but you can be sure that your name, as a friend of Bob’s, will be tied to whatever memorial is established --- which, of course, will depend upon the amount we finally raise. As for a “lift”, I think you can probably get that, instantly, just by shutting your eyes and remembering Bob in full flight, on the platform, in front of a fascinated audience
...eyes sparkling, feet moving, arms punctuating and those colorful, exciting, enthusiastic words pouring out of his mouth.
Just think about that for a minute, then open your eyes
...and fill in the card.
