Dr. Jack Zanville Sissors became smitten with Northwestern University as a college freshman and, except for a brief stint at an advertising agency, went on to spend his entire academic and professional career within its walls.
Dr. Sissors, 84, an acclaimed expert on media planning, an author and a retired advertising professor, died of heart failure Monday, March 22, in Illinois Veterans Home, Manteno.
Born and raised in St. Louis, he entered the Army after high school, and, then, through the GI bill, attended Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1951 and a master’s degree the following year.
He took a job at the Leo Burnett advertising agency. But after Dr. Charles Allen, former Medill assistant dean, asked him to return to the school to teach advertising journalism, he accepted the job.
“That was the beginning of the end,” his wife, Dorothy, said. “He just loved the school and his whole connection to it. He thought it was a very fine school, that the kids were bright and sharp. He loved to work with them and help them.”
Through his 39-year career at the university, Dr. Sissors focused on teaching advertising media, marketing and media planning. He earned his doctorate in educational psychology from Northwestern in 1957.
He was appointed an associate professor in 1966, then a professor. He became professor emeritus with his retirement in 1992. The same year, the school’s advertising department became the integrated marketing communications department.
“Jack was the country’s preeminent media planning expert,” said Martin Block, a professor in marketing.
The book, “Advertising Media Planning,” co-authored by Dr. Sissors, has been reissued numerous times since it was published in the 1970s. Media planning focuses on how to assess where and when to buy and place advertisements to efficiently deliver audiences.
“He is known for that book, and it is the bible of media planning,” Block said. “In fact, it is just called the Sissors book. Jack was a good teacher because he really enjoyed what he was doing. He would have done what he was doing even if he was not being paid.”
Dr. Sissors also co-authored a book on editing and a workbook on media planning.
For more than two decades, he handled newspaper design contests for the Inland Daily News Association. In 1985 the J. Walter Thompson agency honored him with the Buck Buchanan Media Award for outstanding contributions to media education. In 1993 he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Advertising. He had held various board positions with the Chicago American Marketing Association.
Divorced from his first wife, Imogene, Dr. Sissors in 1968 married Dorothy, a young widow. Dr. Sissors enjoyed playing tennis and reading, especially books on religion.
Dr. Sissors is also survived by three sons, Daniel, Wayne and Ken; a stepdaughter, Deborah Klebe; a stepson, Jeffrey Mell; and eight grandchildren.
Visitation is scheduled from 3 to 9:30 p.m., Friday in Friedrichs Funeral Home, 320 W. Central Rd., Mt. Prospect. A funeral service will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday in Trinity United Methodist Church, 605 W. Golf Rd., Mt. Prospect.
