All Irwin Simms knew as a high school student in New York City was that he wanted to write. He had no inkling of the pioneer he would become as co-founder of the Mandabach & Simms advertising agency in Chicago.
“Irv was just a brilliant guy,” said Lee Lippman, a former executive with the agency. “He saw an opportunity in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the area of institutional food service. He decided it was going to be a growing advertising market and focused his efforts in that area.
“The agency became the largest in number of accounts in the food service industry in the United States.” It was sold in 1987 to Ketchum Communications.
Mr. Simms, 80, of Northbrook, retired president of Mandabach & Simms and retired chairman of Ketchum Advertising Chicago, died of a brain hemorrhage, Saturday, Aug. 14, in Evanston Hospital.
“In food service, there are different markets, such as fast food and white tablecloth. Before Irv, an advertising agency would develop one ad [for its client] that went to all of the markets. Irv came up with the concept–and had publications accept it–to tailor the company’s message to each particular market segment. He developed that specific concept, which now publications have taken on as gospel.”
Born and raised in Brooklyn, he came to the Midwest to study journalism at the University of Wisconsin. He interrupted his studies to enlist in the Army during World War II, serving as a foot soldier and medic in Okinawa and Seoul.
He was discharged in March 1946, and married his college sweetheart, Shelly Sakol, the following month. He returned to the university and graduated in 1947 from its school of journalism.
Mr. Simms and his wife moved to her hometown of Chicago and he worked for a magazine before joining an advertising agency as a copywriter. He left the agency to start his own with two other people, but that venture soon dissolved.
In 1952 he met Paul Mandabach Jr., who also was in advertising, and the two men decided to start their own agency, which was housed for many decades in the Civic Opera House building.
The agency focused on magazine advertising and developing marketing programs for its clients, which included Sara Lee, Proctor & Gamble, Custom Food Products and Bloomfield Industries. It grew to have offices in New York, Ohio, Florida and California.
“Irv loved what he did,” said his wife. “He loved the challenge of the business. He went to work with a smile every day.”
He retired from Ketchum in 1990 and a year later became part owner of the Broaster Co., a Beloit, Wis., manufacturer of food service equipment, trademarked food programs and a frozen food line.
Mr. Simms was an ardent golfer, said his wife.
Other survivors include his daughter, Diane Brown; his son, Larry; his sister, Norma Federbush; and five grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held at 1 p.m., Tuesday at Piser Chapel, 9200 N. Skokie Blvd., Skokie.
