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October 18, 2004
Friends of Gus Weill
I write this on the plane en route to India, which I will report on later in the week. Today's subject is not a happy one. My friend and former colleague, Gus Weill Jr., age 42, passed away three weeks ago in New York City. Gus worked for me at Edelman in the late '80s and early '90s, then went to Burson-Marsteller as head of its corporate practice in NY, moved to PR 21 for a year in 2001 and had been doing freelance work for the past three years. Gus was incredibly precocious. He befriended celebrated figures such as Ted Sorensen and James Carville, who relied on him for honest counsel and strategic advice. Gus could write faster and more clearly than anyone I have ever known. He was obsessed with current events and being on top of the news--having James Carville in the Clinton White House was his version of nirvana. His favorite accounts were foreign governments such as Mexico and Israel, where he could offer policy advice as well as PR counsel on major events such as the devaluation of the Mexican peso. He had certain charming quirks--like refusing to take the elevator up to our 27th floor office (yes, he walked up and down, often many times a day), being such a white knuckle flyer that he brought pencils on board so he could break them to relieve his tension, and never wearing a winter coat no matter what the temperature. He had to be the first one into the office every day--part of his competitive edge--often before 6 am.
Gus suffered from depression, which he hid from me and others. He coped with this disease by putting on a brave front. He called me earlier this year and told me that he wanted to come back to Edelman. We did not have a position at the time but I arranged interviews for him at NY City-based companies. I feel somehow now that I could have done more to help him. I am reminded of words spoken by Senator Edward Kennedy at the eulogy for his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, in June, 1968. "My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered simply as a good and decent man...Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for the world. As he said many times in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not."
Chris Komisarjevsky, CEO of Burson-Marsteller, and I are organizing a college fund for Gus' six year old son, Gus III, called "Friends of Gus Weill." We are also compiling a memoir for his son, our favorite memories of Gus Weill, which will be given to his son on his bar mitzvah seven years hence. My assistant, Robert Ambrose, can be reached at robert.ambrose@edelman.com or 1-212-704-8121 for further information.
Richard
Posted by Edelman at October 18, 2004 9:43 AM
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