Dan Edelman — the man who built a small PR firm, eponymously-named Edelman, in 1952 that grew to the 4,500 employee, 65 city behemoth it is today — died of heart failure this morning. He was 92 years old.
A pioneer in the industry, Edelman moved to Chicago after fighting in World War II to do PR for a hair care company. By 1952, he started his own rapidly expanding firm.
Edelman helped make many famous brands household names. The company represented Finland (which eventually knighted the PR pioneer in 1978), the Concorde airliner, CBS, Sara Lee, and KFC. It also created Butterball's Turkey Talk Line.
Even though he retired in 1996, Edelman is still in the family. Richard Edelman, Dan's son, currently runs the firm.
