LOS ANGELES COUNTY - News from Sept. 3, 1986

Ronald J. Rogers is resigning as president and chief executive of the Rogers & Cowan public relations firm and is undoing the 8-month-old merger of his firm, Rogers & Associates, into Rogers & Cowan.

Rogers & Cowan said that its founder, Henry C. Rogers--who is also Ronald’s father--will rejoin the Rogers & Cowan board of directors on Oct. 1. Henry Rogers resigned from the board when his son joined the company in January. “Ron more or less replaced his father,” said Warren Cowan, chairman of Rogers & Cowan, a firm that is prominent in the entertainment industry.

Rogers & Cowan said in a statement that the younger Rogers’ “departure results from philosophical differences in management styles.” Said Ron Rogers: “It was a marriage that just didn’t work, so we’re getting a divorce.”

Rogers said there wasn’t any friction with his father. “In fact, just the opposite,” he said.

Rogers said he would reactivate Rogers & Associates, which had $1 million in billings before the merger with his father’s firm. He said he would take his old clients with him. Rogers & Cowan, which has about $10 million in billings, said Executive Vice President Richard W. Taylor would replace the younger Rogers.