Ad and marketing exec loved travel, fit in golf
Lynn Small began his career in advertising at Leo Burnett in the 1960s, when he was one of the agency’s first African Americans, and later held leadership roles in marketing and advertising with United Airlines and the Chicago Transit Authority.
Stuart Rankin, owner of the now-closed Equinox Advertising in Chicago, said he started his career at Burnett in the 1960s with Small and their careers took similar paths over the years. Small worked for Equinox, heading the Kentucky Fried Chicken and AnheuserBusch accounts, Rankin said.
“He was good working with clients,” Rankin said. “That’s why he was there.”
Small, 82, died Nov. 19 in his home in La Quinta, California, following recent pulmonary surgery, according to his wife of 57 years, Joan. The couple were longtime Chicago residents before moving to California in May of last year. Joan Small was first deputy commissioner of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs from 1988 to 2004.
Small was born and grew up in Woodlawn. He spent several years of grade school and high school at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools before going on to Roosevelt University for a bachelor’s degree. He later worked toward a master’s degree in business at the University of Chicago.
He taught elementary school in Chicago Public Schools for several years, his wife said, and around 1967 was recruited to Leo Burnett. Small moved to the advertising department of United Airlines in the early 1970s. His work there included as a manager of the initial Mileage Plus program and as director of advertising for the company’s western division.
“He was smart, creative, kind and well-spoken and Lynn was always able to find time to help anyone,” said Bill Alenson, who worked with Small at Burnett in the 1960s and later at United.
Small left United and joined the CTA around 1987 as director of marketing. After about four years there, he joined Rankin at Equinox.
“He did good work for us,” Rankin said, “with his experience and ability to relate to clients and properly interpret whatever tactics we were using on their behalf and sell those programs to the clients.”
As a senior manager at Equinox, Small was also good at helping to develop some of the younger account executives working under him. “He was helpful in their progress at the agency and a number of them went on to good positions later,” Rankin said.
After leaving Equinox in the late 1990s, Small finished his career with DHR International in Chicago, working as an executive recruiter. He retired in 2002.
“He loved advertising,” Joan Small said, but also loved traveling, a great benefit of his time with United. The couple visited six of the seven continents.
He served on boards for what was then the Scholarship & Guidance Association, the South Shore Commission and the DuSable Museum of African American History.
And he found time for golf, according to Rankin.
“He was left-handed. He was nicknamed ‘Captain Hook,’ but he managed to keep it in the fairway,” Rankin said.
Small leaves no other direct survivors.
Services were held.