Freeman F. Gosden Jr. ’50

Freeman died Oct. 26, 2015, at home in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Though raised in California, he graduated from Indiana’s Culver Military Academy. A member of Dial and an ROTC cadet major, “Gos,” as he was known to some of us, majored in economics.

He was employed in the West Texas oil fields before and after serving as a first lieutenant in the Army Psychological Branch. After contracting polio in Texas, Freeman returned to California for rehabilitation. There he started as a mailboy for Young & Rubicam and worked for several other agencies before eventually joining Foote, Cone & Belding, from which he retired as chairman after guiding it from the 16th- to third-largest direct marketer in the world.

Among his career highlights were creation of the original frequent-flyer program for United Airlines; founding Me Books, which sold over a million personalized children’s books; and teaching direct marketing at more than 120 colleges and corporations. He said in our 50th-reunion book that his biggest missed opportunity was declining a request to market a computer communications system four professors had developed, called the Internet. His hobbies were bicycling, model trains, and bridge.

He is survived by two daughters, Lee and Jill; two grandchildren; and a sister, Virginia. Dorothy, his wife of 60 years, predeceased him.