JOHN S. ROST

John S. Rost, Public Relations & Advertising Executive, Dies at 93 John S. Rost, whose successful career in Public Relations and Advertising spanned more than fifty years, died Sunday in Wakefield, Rhode Island, of respiratory failure. He was 93. He is survived by his three children, Ann Marie Rost of St. Thomas, USVI, Jack T. Rost, of Chicago, and Bradshaw Rost and his wife Catherine Haley Rost of Narragansett, R.I. and Washington, D.C., and his two grandchildren, Amanda Haley and Jonathan Bradshaw ("Jake") Rost. The youngest of six children, John Rost was born in 1918 on the Fourth of July, on a small farm in Kerkhoven, Minnesota to Frank and Anna Rost. Mr. Rost attended High School in Cokato, Minnesota, graduating with the Class of 1936 of Cokato High School. He obtained a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Minnesota in 1941, and later did post graduate work in Speech and Creative Writing at both the University of Houston and Columbia University in New York City. During World War II, between 1942 and 1946, he served his country as a Sergeant of the Army Air Corp, as part of the 537 Bombardier Training Squadron at Williams Field, Chandler, AZ, and then with 1962nd Service Command Unit, Presidio of Monterey, California. He received the American Theater Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, and Victory Medal. His older brother Arnold, died fighting in France in 1944. In 1946, after leaving the Army, he began his professional career in Houston, Texas as an Account Representative with M.H. Jacobs Public Relations Agency. In Houston, Mr. Rost met his future wife, Thelma Bradshaw, a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Southwestern University at Georgetown, Texas, who was then working for Lyndon Baines Johnson to get a new radio station, KNUZ, on the air. By the time KNUZ went live in 1947, Miss Bradshaw was the station's Assistant Manager - an unusual level of responsibility for a young woman at that time. Mr. Rost and Miss Bradshaw were married in her home town of Grapeland, Texas in June of 1950. Up until her death in 1973, Thelma Bradshaw Rost also had a varied and successful career in media and public relations. In 1948, the couple moved to New York City, where Mr. Rost was employed first as the New Jersey State Director of the United Negro College Fund, and then, between 1949 and 1952, as the Executive Director of the Morristown New Jersey Community Chest. In 1952, Mr. Rost left the Community Chest, taking a position as Assistant Manager of Public Relations with the New York offices of the Continental Can Company. In 1956, Mr. Rost left Continental Can to take a position in the New York offices of the J. Walter Thompson Company, then the largest Advertising and Public Relations firm in the world. In 1967, he became Vice President, as well as the Management Supervisor of J. Walter Thompson's single largest group of accounts including, among others, Standard Brands, Inc., and Kellogg's International. In 1969, Mr. Rost left J. Walter Thompson to open his own Public Relations Agency, John Rost Associates, with offices in New York City and Washington, D.C. In 1957, he moved his family from New York City to Scarsdale, New York. Once his children were off at college, in 1977 he returned to Manhattan to live and work where he stayed until he retired in 1996. Upon retirement, he lived first in St. Thomas, USVI, and then in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and finally relocated to Wakefield, Rhode Island in 2010. In addition to his immediate family, Mr. Rost is survived by a large family in Minnesota and other parts of the Country which include his nieces, Patti Rost and Janet Peterson Welte, his nephews, Lanny Rost, Jerry Peterson, Jim Peterson, Joey Peterson, and Jack Peterson, and many more great nieces and great nephews too numerous to name. Funeral arrangements are by the Nardolillo Funeral Home of Narragansett, Rhode Island (401-789-6300). Visiting hours are between 2:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on November 12, 2012 to be followed by a memorial service starting at 4:00 p.m. Flowers may be sent to the Nardolillo Funeral Home, or, in the alternative, contributions in Mr. Rost's memory may be made to the South County Hospital in Wakefield, Rhode Island which cared so well for him in his last illness.

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