On Aug. 31, 2023, Robert Herman, 91, passed away at his weekend home in Madison. A life-long New Yorker, Bob was born at Women’s Hospital on the Upper West Side, the son of the late Louis Herman and Anne (Chernoff) Herman. He is survived by wife, Cynthia Perry of Madison and New York City; his younger brother, Gene Herman of Berkeley, CA; his sons, Drew Herman (and Jolene) of Tarzana, CA; Jed (and Cindy) Herman of Sarasota, FL, and Michael Herman of New York City.
As a young boy, Skip cheered for the Dodgers, played stick ball on West 79th Street with Richard Benjamin, and attended New York Schools: PS 87, Commerce High School and Columbia University.
On Dec. 7, 1941, he was seated at a Giant game with his dad and brother when World War II broke out. An army veteran, he would later serve during the Korean War.
An original MadMan, Bob joined Doyle, Dane, Bernbach in 1958 during the creative revolution and began working on an advertising campaign for an iconic car company. Named the Beetle, Think small and Lemon ads were introduced a year later – money was so tight, DDB used employees, including Bob, as the talent. The rest is advertising history.
In the late 1960s, after joining Carl Ally to work on Volvo, Bob became a well-respected advertising recruiter working into his eighties. It is how he and Cynthia met.
Fishing was his passion – mostly striped bass, blue fish, small and large mouth bass. His favorite catch was a 24-pound striper caught casting off Whale Rock near Seaview. Nearly half our neighborhood enjoyed fresh fish for dinner the next evening.
In later years, he was exhilarated when the Yankees and the Giants played well and loved to travel, especially Ireland, France, Spain, Mexico, and Turks & Caicos.
A Celebration of Bob’s Life will be held this fall.
Contributions in Bob’s name can be made to: The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research ([email protected]).
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