Bruce Fairchild Barton

He breathed his last on July 5, 1967 in New York City.

Bruce Barton was the only child of his parents born in Robbins, Tennessee. His father served as a pastor in a Congregational church, while his mother, Esther Bushnell worked as an elementary school teacher.

Coming from a devout Christian family, much of the early years of his life were spent in Oak Park area of Illinois. Ever since being a small child, young Barton had developed an affinity for journalism.

At the age of nine, he started selling newspapers in his free time. it was during his years in high school that he took up the post of the editor for his High School newspaper. Additionally, he also served as the reporter of the local newspaper, Oak Park Weekly.

Blessed with business skills and acumen, he started assisting his uncle in the latter’s Maple Syrup business, which started experiencing booming profits due to his involvement.

In 1903, he enrolled at Berea College but soon transferred himself to Amherst College in Massachusetts. He graduated from the same in 1907. At the time of graduation, he was voted as Phi Beta Kappa and head of the student council.

In 1907, he took up the post of an editor for two small magazines, ‘Home Herald’ and ‘Housekeeper’, a position which he served until 1911. However, since none of the magazines did a booming business, he left the same.

In 1912, he moved to New York. Therein, he took up the profile of assistant sales manager at an advertising agency, P. F. Collier and Son. It was while working in the capacity that he realized his true calling and propensity in the field of advertising.

His most successful assignment at P. F. Collier and Son was penning the advertising text for Harvard classics. The written text along with the headlines was a huge hit, with more than 400, 000 copies sold.

After his trysts at advertising, he moved back to journalism and took up the profile of an editor for the magazine, Every Week in 1914. He served the position until 1918 but without much success

In 1918, he started working as a publicist for United War Work Campaign, a fund drive for charitable organizations aiding the troops in World War I. Following year, he, along with fellow workers from the campaign, formed an advertising agency, ‘Barton, Durstine, and Osborne’.

Upon his death, the advertising company, BBDO of which he was founder, described him as ‘The Man Everybody Knew’ playing a spoof on his 1925 bestselling book, ‘The Man Nobody Knows’.