Richard B. Edler, 58; Ad Industry Leader Helped Bereaved Parents
Richard B. Edler, an author and advertising industry leader who co-founded a local support group for bereaved parents, died Feb. 16 of a heart attack at his Palos Verdes home. He was 58.
During a 35-year career in the advertising business, Edler was president or managing director of three major Los Angeles agencies--Doyle, Dane, Bernbach; McCann-Erickson; and Foote, Cone & Belding--before forming his own consulting firm. The Chicago native was active nationally in industry councils, particularly the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies.
In the early 1990s, he spearheaded a change in industry practice when he introduced the concept of sequential liability, a legal principle that protects advertising agencies from claims when their clients fail to pay their advertising bills.
He also was the author of “If I Knew Then What I Know Now,” a 1995 book offering advice and inspiration from top business executives and other successful people, including Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth. The book, which grew out of a commencement speech by Edler, has been reprinted in several languages.
In 1992, personal tragedy turned his interests in another direction. His son Mark was an 18-year-old freshman at UCLA when he took a shortcut to his fraternity house by walking on top of a retaining wall. He fell to his death. In their anguish, Edler and his wife, Kitty, turned to an organization called Compassionate Friends, a support group for bereaved parents that began in England in 1969 and spread to the United States a decade later.
After attending the group’s national conference, the Edlers resolved to start a local chapter serving Los Angeles and the South Bay.
The chapter has flourished since its founding in 1993, with twice-monthly meetings at the Neighborhood Church in Palos Verdes and a newsletter read by 600 people, according to Brian Winkelspecht, a co-leader of the group and member of the national board of directors of Compassionate Friends.
The nonreligious group provides a supportive atmosphere to bring together the newly grieving with people who have had time to deal with a child’s death. There is no charge for membership in the group, which has 600 chapters nationwide and is also open to siblings and grandparents.
Edler was a chapter leader until 1997 and was a former national president. He led the Compassionate Friends Foundation, which raises money to support the organization’s programs.
He was a popular speaker at Compassionate Friends conferences and wrote “Into the Valley and Out Again,” about his own dealings with grief. The book has become a favorite among bereaved parents around the country.
Edler made a point of starting chapter meetings by giving every person in attendance an opportunity to talk about how his or her child died. His openness about his own grief process encouraged other men, in particular, to discuss their feelings.
“A lot of chapters don’t have men, but we found men would come,” Winkelspecht said. “That was a positive influence of Rich. Men are usually very noncommunicative in their grief. Rich set an example as the leader ... and really helped the group a lot.”
In addition to his wife, Edler left a son, Rick, a granddaughter, a brother and a sister. Donations in his memory may be sent to the Edler Family Foundation, P.O. Box 1015, Palos Verdes Estates, CA 90274.
