Robert Stephen "Bob" Leaf ( August 9, 1931 – June 10, 2021) was an American public relations executive. He is best known for creating the international network of offices which made
Burson-Marsteller
Burson Cohn & Wolfe is a multinational public relations and communications firm, headquartered in New York City. In February 2018, parent WPP Group PLC announced that it had merged its subsidiaries Cohn & Wolfe with Burson-Marsteller. The comb ...
the world's largest public relations firm in the 1980s, where he eventually rose to be international chairman.
Debrett's
Debrett's () is a British professional coaching company, publisher and authority on etiquette and behaviour, founded in 1769 with the publication of the first edition of ''The New Peerage''. The company takes its name from its founder, John De ...
have recognised him as one of Britain's 500 most influential people.
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
.
Education
After high school Leaf enrolled in the
School of Journalism
A journalism school is a school or department, usually part of an established university, where journalists are trained. 'J-School' is an increasingly used term for a journalism department at a school or college.
Journalists in most parts of the ...
at the
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...
, the world's first school of journalism. Initially he was interested in pursuing a career in sports journalism, but after attending classes in advertising and public relations he decided that was where his future lay. At college, Leaf also developed a keen interest in history and international relations and, after receiving his bachelor of journalism degree with honors in 1952, he received an MA with honors in history in 1954.
Army
After graduation, Leaf served in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
for two years. After
basic training
Military recruit training, commonly known as basic training or boot camp, refers to the initial instruction of new military personnel. It is a physically and psychologically intensive process, which resocializes its subjects for the unique dema ...
, he was posted to
Fort Eustis
Fort Eustis is a United States Army installation in Newport News, Virginia. In 2010, it was combined with nearby Langley Air Force Base to form Joint Base Langley–Eustis.
The post is the home to the United States Army Training and Doctrine ...
, Virginia for a few months, then army headquarters at
Orléans
Orléans (;"Orleans" (US) and who lectured to the troops. Among his subjects were the different cultural attitudes they would encounter while stationed overseas, and how best to get on with the British, French and Germans.
Burson-Marsteller
Leaf moved back to the United States in 1956 and went to live with his widowed mother in New York, while searching for a job. For a short while he worked for a show business publicist where his main clients included Milton Berle, who helped start television in the United States,
Tony Bennett
Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birt ...
and Pearl Bailey. He then obtained an interview with a small PR firm called Burson-Marsteller which was looking for its first trainee, and got the job.
He joined Burson-Marsteller on July 1, 1957, alongside its then six executives. The business grew rapidly and soon Leaf was promoted and given assistants, one of whom was
Mary Travers
Mary Allin Travers (November 9, 1936 – September 16, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter who was known for being in the famous 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, along with Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey. Travers grew up amid the burg ...
– soon far better known as the Mary in the vocal group
Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's reper ...
.
Harold Burson had also been stationed overseas in the army and felt that it offered great opportunities for the firm to represent American clients there. He appointed Leaf head of international operations and, in 1965, he was sent to
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
on a one-year assignment. Three years later he was transferred to London, where he still resided.
Overseas growth
Credited as "the father of public relations", Leaf went on to create a global network of offices which helped Burson-Marsteller become the world's biggest PR firm during his tenure.
After giving a speech in Moscow, B-M was hired by Vneshtorgreklama, the Russian state advertising agency during the Cold War, and helped set up the first PR firm in the Soviet Union. Leaf also signed a partnership agreement with the Chinese government in the Great Hall of the People to establish the first official Chinese Government PR firm. He launched the first international PR firm in the Middle East and started Burson-Marsteller offices throughout Europe, Asia, South America and Australia.
In 1997, after 40 years with Burson-Marsteller, he stood down as their International chairman and established his own firm, Robert S. Leaf Consultants, which is based in the Burson-Marsteller building in London. He still advised Burson-Marsteller.
Awards
In 2000, Leaf was given the
Chartered Institute of Public Relations
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is a professional body in the United Kingdom for public relations practitioners. Founded as the Institute for Public Relations in 1948, CIPR was awarded Chartered status by the Privy Council of ...
first ever 'Alan Campbell Award', for outstanding contributions to international public relations and, in 2011, he received journalism's highest award Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service to Journalism from his alma mater, the
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...
. Previous recipients include
Tom Brokaw
Thomas John Brokaw (; born February 6, 1940) is an American retired network television journalist and author. He first served as the co-anchor of ''The Today Show'' from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anchor and managing editor of '' ...
,
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...
,
George Gallup
George Horace Gallup (November 18, 1901 – July 26, 1984) was an American pioneer of survey sampling techniques and inventor of the Gallup poll, a successful statistical method of survey sampling for measuring public opinion.
Life and caree ...
and
Sir Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
. He is listed in
Who's Who in America
Marquis Who's Who ( or ) is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in America'', ''Who's Who of American Wome ...
,
Who's Who in the World
Marquis Who's Who ( or ) is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in America'', ''Who's Who of American Wome ...
, Debrett's People of Today. In January 2014, he was included in 'The Debrett's 500', a list of people considered by them as Britain's 500 most influential people.
Books
In 2012, Leaf published his memoirs, ''The Art of Perception''. It was described in The Reality Gap as:
Since the publication of the book, Leaf has been spending his time talking at conferences and lecturing at leading business and journalism schools in the UK and the US.
He is also a founder of the
Public Relations Consultants Association
The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) is a trade association for the public relations sector in the United Kingdom. The association lobbies on behalf of its member companies and also provides a forum for sharing information. ...
.
Personal life
While still working at B-M's New York office Leaf received a phone call from Adele Ornstein, who had been a fellow student at Joan of Arc Junior High School in New York whom he had not seen in 12 years but hadn't forgotten, so they started dating. They were married in June 1958, their son, Stuart, was born in 1961 and they have two grandchildren.
OpenCorporates
OpenCorporates is a website that shares data on corporations under the copyleft Open Database License. The company was launched on 20 December 2010, by Chris Taggart and Rob McKinnon.
Recognition
In 2011, the site won third place in the O ...