Edward H. Meyer

Edward H. Meyer, 96, was the Chairman of Ocean Road Advisors, Inc. (a family office that invests the funds of Meyer family entities.) He passed away peacefully at home on Tuesday, April 11th, 2023 surrounded by his family.

Mr. Meyer spent the bulk of his career at the Grey Global Group which he built into a leading advertising and worldwide communications services company. Mr. Meyer was Chairman and CEO of the company and led the sale of the business to WPP, the world’s largest communications services group. During the years of Mr. Meyer’s leadership of Grey, it developed and operated a large number of marketing communications businesses globally including consumer advertising, media planning and buying, direct marketing, healthcare marketing, public relations/public affairs, sales promotion, graphic design, corporate communications, sponsorship and event marketing, interactive communications, channel marketing and retailer advertising support and product branding. Its clients include some of the largest and most prominent corporations in the world, including Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline, BAT, Diageo, Nokia, Volkswagen, BellSouth, Wyeth, Merck, Novartis, and Con Agra. During his 35-year tenure as Chief Executive Officer of Grey, Mr. Meyer built the company from a small U.S. agency into a leader in global marketing communications with operations in 83 countries. Under his leadership, Grey’s revenues soared by a factor of over 40 times, from $29.5 million in 1970 to more than $1.3 billion in 2003.

Over the years, Mr. Meyer served as a Director of a number of public companies and was on the boards of Harman International Industries and ROIC. He has previously served as a Director of Ethan Allen Interiors, Inc., NCMI, and the Jim Pattison Group.

Mr. Meyer was on the Board of Overseers of Weill Cornell Medical College, and was a trustee of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and on the Board of Directors of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. He was an Emeritus Trustee of the American Museum of Natural History.