Robert L. James, who led McCann Erickson to the position of the world”™s largest advertising agency, passed away on Aug. 29 at his Greenwich home at the age of 84.
Born in New York City in September 1936, James attended Fordham Preparatory School and later received degrees from Colgate University and Columbia University. He held positions at Proctor & Gamble, Colgate Palmolive and Ogilvy & Mather before joining the advertising agency Marschalk Co. in 1968 and worked his way up the ranks to become CEO in 1975.
James joined McCann Erickson in 1981 as vice chairman of U.S. operations and was promoted to chairman and CEO in 1985. In a 1983 interview with The New York Times, he noted the company”™s global dominance of the advertising industry by proclaiming, “We own more agencies than anyone else. The next largest agency has only half our figure.”
James transitioned to chairman emeritus at the company in 1995 and was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2010.
Outside of McCann Erickson, James initiated the National Academy of Science”™s James Prize in Science and Technology Integration and served on the boards of multiple organizations, including the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and South Street Seaport Museum. He was also a life trustee of the Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.
He was an accomplished sailor and competed in the 1998 Trans-Atlantic Challenge while he was commodore of the New York Yacht Club.
