Ad exec, tireless booster of Pittsburgh
Herbert F. Burger, a retired top advertising executive and tireless booster of Pittsburgh who in the early 1980s helped create the slogan “Pittsburgh: The city with a smile on its face,” died Saturday of cancer at his home in Fox Chapel. He was 87.
Mr. Burger, a native of Ligonier who earned an economics degree from Thiel College and a master’s in advertising and journalism at Syracuse University, started working in 1955 as a management trainee for Joy Manufacturing in Pittsburgh.
He quickly switched tracks, working at some of the city’s biggest advertising agencies, including Ketchum MacLeod & Grove and Marsteller Inc., before joining Creamer Inc. in 1965.
He was that agency’s president from 1976 to 1986 and led the creative team that developed the “city with a smile” campaign.
After Creamer was sold to a British company, Mr. Burger started his own agency, which he named St. George Group after a painting of St. George slaying the dragon that he had in his study.
He retired from St. George in the late 1990s, after which the company was sold to Marc USA.
In 1994, Mr. Burger helped launch the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, serving as its first chairman.
The nonprofit organization is known for sponsoring numerous city events such as the annual Light Up Night and the weekly summertime Farmers Market in Market Square.
“He was a phenomenal man,” said Jeremy Waldrup, who joined the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership as CEO in 2011.
“He had been outside of the organization for a number of years when I arrived, but he continually checked in,” Mr. Waldrup said. “He would offer counsel and problem solve. He was passionate about Pittsburgh.”
Mr. Burger also worked behind the scenes to help revitalize the city’s Fifth and Forbes corridor, luring Millcraft Industries to Pittsburgh to redevelop the former Lazarus and Murphy’s buildings Downtown.
“Herb was a great visionary,” said Lucas Piatt, son of Millcraft chairman Jack Piatt. “He was the reason we began investing in the city.”
Mr. Burger was known as a doer, said his wife of 51 years, Jane.
“When he had a dream, he got people on board,” she said. “He was always moving forward. He wasn’t someone who looked to the past.”
He also was a fan of making lists.
“He was always sending these notes to people with comments and lists,” Mrs. Burger said. Lists about “things to do, things to accomplish, things to get done. He got all of us making lists.”
In addition to his wife, Mr. Burger is survived by a son, Matt, and a daughter, Jennifer, both of Fox Chapel, and five grandchildren.
Mr. Burger will be buried in Slippery Rock, where he had a second home on a pair of waterfalls on Slippery Rock Creek.
A memorial service is planned for 3 p.m. Saturday at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 328 Sixth Ave., Pittsburgh.