Herb Valentine: R.I.P.
Anyone who’s ever worked in the KC marketing communications industry should take a moment to remember the late Herb Valentine, who passed away last week. You can read his obit here and a related article from my girlfriend, Jennifer Mann, here.
Along with childhood friend and partner Earle Radford, the late Mr. Valentine founded Kansas City’s first great ad agency, Valentine-Radford, in 1946. For years, “V-R” was Kansas City’s flagship agency, and many of us trace our careers one way or another back to Messrs. Radford and Valentine.
I never met Mr. Valetine, but I did get my start in advertising in his offices back in junior high, when I went to V-R to interview a man named Dave Holt (who was running the Pizza Hut business at the time) as part of a “career day” assignment.
Dave Holt later gave me my first job in advertising when he hired me as a summer intern at Hickerson-Powell-Phelps in 1987. I returned to what became Hickerson-Phelps (Powell left in the late 80s) in 1994 as an AE in their PR division, Henderson/HP.
Reading about Mr. Valentine in this morning’s paper, I am truly sorry that I never had the opportunity to meet him. He was a special person and I’d like to send a special shout out to his family, most notably his son John, who’s been kind enough to share his wisdom with me from time to time, and grandson West.
Rest in peace.
Bill Patterson
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