Shepherd Mead(1914-1994)
- Writer
Born Edward Mead (the fourth actually) and took the pen name Shepherd.
Raised in St. Louis where he attended Country Day prep school (on
scholarship) and Washington University (on scholarship). Oldest of
three boys, (Walter and Louis). Mother died when Ed was in his teens.
After graduating he moved to New York City and started in the
advertising business. Retired from Benton and Bowles (sp?) at 39 to
pursue writing full-time. Wrote 'How to Succeed in Business Without
Really Trying' (H2$), his most famous work, in 1951 after a book was
rejected as 'not being comercial enough'. He dashed it off in about 100
hours while vacationing on Cape Cod. H2$ was a top 20 best seller. It
was adapted to a play by Gilbert and Weinstock but never produced.
Frank Loser adapted it into a musical and Abe Burrows put focus into
the project that made it successful. Shepherd Mead wrote 19 novels. In
his opinion his best was 'The Admen', a story about the advertising
industry -- something he knew well as he had been the VP of Television
Advertising for B&B. His team introduced both Tide and Crest and
produced the first animated cartoon advertisment. In 1957 he moved his
family to Europe with the intention of returning after a couple of
years. The first year was spent in Geneva Switzerland and then he moved
to England, UK. He and his wife Annabelle loved England so much that
they settled there, only returning to Switzerland after the British IRS
threatened to tax him at 97% on all earnings for H2$, including those
made outside the country. After several years he negotiated a
reasonable settlement with the IRS and returned to England, where he
died peacefully at his flat overlooking the beautiful Hurlingham Club
by the Thames on 15 August 1994. His wife died in 1983. He is survived
by his three children Sally, Shepherd, and Edward (known as
Ted).
