My dad was a mad man.  He started his career as a copywriter in Montreal.

Sy Frolick, now retired, was a New York ad man — a trailblazer in the early days of television.  He was also a childhood friend of my dads.  My mother just sent me an article Sy wrote on the occasion of my father’s retirement.   The date on it is Jan 13, 1989. I don’t know where it was published.  Here’s an excerpt:

I later found out how Roger Whitman (of Bristol Myers) became Peter’s client.  Some years after Peter had begun writing for the agency, Mac and Lee Bristol came to Montreal for an important presentation.  The Ronalds-Reynolds account executive on Bristol Myers was unable to handle the meeting due to a death in his family.  Peter, as writer on the account, was called Home (where he was bedded down with a high fever), and asked to make the presentation.  He did.  The Bristol brothers liked him so much, they asked him to handle their account.  Thus, in one fell swoop, did Peter Golick move from young writer to account director for Bristol Myers.

A few years later, Grey Advertising made some overtures to him, but Peter wasn’t interested.  While he had read and been impressed with their publication, Grey Matter, he was then a shareholder and member of the board at Ronalds-Reynolds.  However, during a business trip to New York, Peter was invited to sit in on a Grey marketing session.  Ed Meyer, Dick Lessler, Al Achenbaum and Shirley Young were among those in attendance.  Peter said their brilliance won him over.

You probably don’t remember it, but back when he was a copywriter, one of my dad’s slogans was “Wherever you go, trust Texaco.”

I should write a Mad Men spec.