Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Innovative public relations executive
George Glazer, who handled the public relations accounts for the largest oil companies to explain the reasons for long lines at the pumps during the 1973 Arab oil embargo, died Nov. 22 at his home west of Boynton Beach. He was 86.
After graduating from Penn State University’s College of Journalism, he worked as a TV reporter in Philadelphia. He then turned to public relations “and specialized in getting people on television,” said his son, Bryan Glazer.
Glazer and business partner Abe Schechter, a radio news pioneer, founded a PR firm in the 1960s.
They sold it to Hill & Knowlton, a worldwide New York-based firm, in 1971. He served as senior vice president at Hill & Knowlton, where he took charge of his company’s audiovisual communications operations.
”George really was a true pioneer in broadcast and satellite services, which was an early foundation for the rich video and digital content so central to our industry today,” said Tom Hoog, the global vice chairman who also previously served as the president and CEO of the company known as Hill+Knowlton Strategies. “I always envied the contacts, but moreso the respect he had earned within the world of media. He was one of PR’s media greats.”
Bryan Glazer said his father conceived and launched the New York Stock Exchange’s pilot project to provide news channels with live interviews with traders from the floor, and for decades trained them for their appearances. He managed the broadcast news campaigns for the grand openings of Moscow’s first Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants.
He retired in 1998 and later moved to South Florida. He continued to work with his son in his firm World Satellite Television News and Media Relations.
Moments before his death, Glazer and his son were speaking by telephone about the launch of a public awareness campaign centered on conflict diamonds and war orphans in Sierra Leone, a project spearheaded by Muhammad Ali’s daughter.
Glazer’s son said his father had run into the bathroom to help his wife when he collapsed and hit his head on the bathtub. He died at the scene from what was later ruled coronary artery disease.
His son said he had a reputation for integrity and “no spin” when dealing with journalists.
“He believed if you had a crisis communications campaign then transparency was essential, and on the other side, if you were promoting something, you didn’t need to pontificate, you only needed to present,” Bryan Glazer said.
In addition to his son, of Delray Beach and Manhattan, Glazer is survived by his wife, Mina; and daughter Marjorie Edelstein of west of Boynton Beach.
Funeral services are scheduled for noon Sunday at Beth Israel Memorial Chapel, 11115 S. Jog Road in Boynton Beach. The burial will be Monday at the South Florida National Veterans Cemetery in Lake Worth.