Martin Rockey
06/11/1928 - 02/13/2017
I died (13/February/2017) of congestive heart failure. But don’t cry for me, Bay Area. I’ve had a blast. I wrote this obit before I died so my family wouldn’t have to. After all, who knows more about my life than I do, right?
I was born in Edcouch, Texas, 6/11/28 and my family moved to Springfield, MO when I was 3.
In 1942 my dad took a Civil Service job and we moved to Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo. I attended Waynesville High School and in my senior year helped our basketball team take 3rd in the state tournament.
On our senior trip to Colorado, I went on to Moscow, ID to visit my brother and wound up getting a job in a Spokane advertising agency. Between 2 stints in the Air Force, I attended Eastern Washington College in Cheney, WA, where I met my soon-to-be wife, Nannette Green.
We were married in 1952 and moved to Lewiston, ID. I worked for a radio station there and later opened my own advertising agency at the tender age of 26.
In 1956, I joined an agency in Orinda, CA and we moved to Walnut Creek. 5 years later, I joined a San Francisco agency and in 1962 we moved to the City where we lived for 25 years. Over the next several years, I went through a series of mergers and acquisitions with agencies named Gross, Roberts & Rockey, Gross, Pera & Rockey and Clinton E. Frank. In 1978, I became disillusioned and started my own shop again, which led to two other mergers; Lynch & Rockey and Evans, Lynch & Rockey.
As a partner and Creative Director of these various shops, I had the pleasure to create many local, regional and national ad campaigns, some of which, you may remember, including the smile campaign for PSA (Pacific Southwest Airlines). Others include Schilling Spices, Sunmaid Raisins, Sunsweet Prunes, Foster Farms, S&W Find Foods, Cathay Pacific Airways, Toyota, Princess Cruises, Lyons Restaurants, Eureka Federal Savings, Bay Area Cadillac Dealers, KGO-TV, KGO Radio and many more.
In 1986, I got out of the rat race and opened a consulting business out of our home when we moved to Windsor. I was still doing this right up until the end.
I was always a big Giants/49ers/Warriors fan and loved taking money from my golfing buddies until my knees let me down.
I was a member of The Olympic Club for over 50 years and served on the Board from 1996 through 1998. We also joined Fountaingrove Golf & Atheletic Club in Santa Rosa in 1987.
We’ve traveled all over the world, enjoying every security line, every missed flight, every lumpy bed and every bad martini. Like Sinatra sang, “regrets I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention”. My biggest professional accomplishment was the PSA Smile Campaign. My longest client relationship was Jim Hannay, Rector Audi/Porsche in Burlingame (since 1978). My biggest personal accomplishment was marrying Nan. My lowest period was when we lost our younger daughter, Lisa, at age 46, in 2002. My brother, Jim, also preceded me in death at age 84, in 2006.
Our remaining family consists of our daughter, Valerie Rockey; our granddaughter, Shannon (Manuel) Perez; our grandson, Kyle Rockey,; our son-in-law Rich Fosberg; and our 4 great granddaughters, Courtney, Hailey, Gracie and Lexie Perez.
I’ve asked there be no services, thereby denying a few of my friends the fun of telling stories about me when I can’t talk back.
If you have a few bucks, and feel in the mood, send them to Heartland Hospice 2455 Bennett Valley Road, Suite B-214, Santa Rosa, Ca. 95404. Or, have a drink and raise your glass with a phrase you’ve heard me say many times, “Get on with it!” Hope to see you up there. Martin