
Howard Geltzer, who, with his wife, led the boutique Geltzer & Company public relations agency that helped launch Sony’s Walkman and other breakthrough consumer technology products in the 1980s and 1990s, died January 7 at LA’s Cedars-Sinai after a long battle with cancer. He was 88. His wife and Geltzer & Company co-founder Shiela passed away in February 2022.
In 1974, the Geltzers founded Geltzer & Company, which soon became a top 50 public relations agency boasting clients including Sony, Motorola, Samsung, Commodore, and Toshiba.
In 1980, Sony gave Geltzer & Company the job of launching its new Walkman portable headphone tape cassette player. According to Geltzer, Sony was uncertain of the product’s chances in the U.S. despite its success in Japan. Seeking to keep its financial risk low, Sony initially did little or no advertising and marketing of the new product outside of the originally short-term Geltzer-led PR campaign. “The three-month assignment lasted 12 years,” Geltzer later quipped. During that period, Sony sold more than 50 million Walkmans, becoming a symbol of the 1980s “Me” generation. A few years later, Geltzer & Company also handled the PR for Sony’s Discman.
Howard Geltzer was born October 23, 1936, in Hazleton, PA, midway between Scranton and Allentown, to Nate and Sally Geltzer. After graduating from Hazleton High School, Geltzer earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Following a stint in the U.S. Army, Geltzer began his career in marketing communications at General Electric, followed by assignments at Litton Industries, McGraw-Hill, and the launch of Family Health magazine in 1969.
In 1967, Geltzer married Sheila Simon, who launched a public relations agency out of their home. Geltzer took on some of the work, and the two found they made an excellent team, he ran business development and signing clients, while she ran day-to-day operations. They officially opened in partnership with GE executive Jack Trout and advertising executive Al Ries as Ries & Geltzer in 1974 before becoming just Geltzer & Company in 1984.
In addition to the Sony Walkman and Discman, Geltzer & Company also led the PR campaigns for the Sony DVD, Commodore’s Amiga home computers, and Toshiba’s digital copiers, and he attended every CES. Among Geltzer & Company’s non-consumer technology clients were Black & Decker Housewares, Morton Airbags, and Dow Chemical.
Reaching a peak of 25 employees and revenue estimated at $2.9 million, Geltzer & Company merged with Publicis Dialog in New York, part of the French multinational Publicis Group, in November 2000, with the Geltzer remaining on as executive principals and managing partners. At the same time as the merger, the Geltzers also ran the New York presidential campaign of Dick Gephardt (D, MO), a fellow Northwestern alumnus.
In 2008, Geltzer became an adjunct instructor of management communication at the New York University Stern School of Business, teaching the undergraduate Organizational Communication and Its Social Context course. He also became a visiting adjunct professor at USC’s Marshall Business School’s Center for Management Communications, where he taught Business Communication Strategy.
In addition to his industry public relations work, Geltzer also was a founding member of the Consumer Technology Association Hall of Fame Selection Committee, was a counselor for the SCORE unit of the Small Business Administration, was a member of the Our House Publications advisory council, and an avid Pittsburgh Pirate fan.
On a personal note, Howard and I attended many Mets-Pirate games at Shea Stadium and City Field together, both of us meticulously keeping score, Howard in his copious Herb Score scorebook. He and Shiela were also supporters of off-Broadway theater, the Lincoln Center Symphony, and he was a longtime member of University Club.
Geltzer is survived by his sons Jeremy and Gabriel, and his grandson, Jackson, of Los Angeles, CA.
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