Anthony, these people were not with your group but very tragic... dangerous over there in more ways than one... Take care... praying for your mission and safety!
Article from today's NY Times:
David, 71, and Joan McCall, 57, Die in Crash
By LAURENCE ZUCKERMAN
David B. McCall and Joan Mills McCall, who excelled separately in
the worlds of advertising, philanthropy and the arts and together as
fiercely dedicated advocates for the world's displaced people, died in
a car accident Sunday while on an aid mission in Albania.
McCall was 71. His wife was 57. The couple lived in Manhattan and
Bridgehampton, N.Y.
and Mrs. McCall, together with Yvette Pierpaoli, a well-known French aid
worker, and their driver, were on their way from Tirana, the Albanian
capital, to the northern town of Kukes, where tens of thousands of
refugees who have poured out of Kosovo have congregated in recent
weeks. The four were driving in heavy rain when their car missed a turn
on a winding mountain road and plunged several hundred feet into a ravine,
said Dennis Grace, a vice president of Refugees International, where both
and Mrs. McCall served on the board. All four were killed.
Grace said that the McCalls were among their nation's most generous
financial supporters of refugee aid. During their eight years of involvement
with Refugees International, they participated in numerous missions to,
among other places, Thailand, Cambodia, Somalia and Eritrea. They had
traveled to Albania to explore the possibility of setting up a satellite radio
network that would help refugee families separated by the chaos in
Kosovo.
"The initial reports referred to them as two American aid workers," said
Richard C. Holbrooke, the United States special envoy to the Balkans, who
is chairman of Refugees International and was to be succeeded in that post
by McCall later this year. "They would have liked that. They were highly
successful financially and socially. They could have lived a comfortable life
in New York with their family and friends. Instead, they repeatedly risked
their lives in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Balkans to increase public
awareness of the plight of people in need."
McCall was born in New York, attended the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville,
Conn., and briefly attended Yale before serving in the armed forces during
the Korean War. He began his career in advertising in the mail room at
Young & Rubicam in 1951.
From there, he joined Ogilvy & Mather, where he eventually was
hand-picked by David Ogilvy, the agency's legendary founder, to succeed
him as chief copywriter. At Ogilvy & Mather, McCall worked on
campaigns for Sears, Roebuck & Company, Hathaway Shirts and Maxwell
House coffee, for which he wrote the tag line "Coffee that tastes as good
as it smells."
In 1961, McCall left Ogilvy to become co-founder of an agency,
McCaffrey & McCall Inc. There, he helped create campaigns for a
variety of companies, including Exxon, Tiffany and Mercedes-Benz. One
particularly memorable television commercial created by McCall for
Norelco showed Santa Claus sledding down a hill on one of the company's
electric shavers.
"David really supported the creative side tremendously, often times to the
exclusion of the account managers," said Tom Yohe, who was a creative
director at the agency in the 1970's.
But it was McCaffrey & McCall's work for Mercedes-Benz that was
probably most influential, setting the standard for how luxury cars are
marketed in the United States.
The agency was acquired by Saatchi & Saatchi in 1983. McCall left five
years later, eventually becoming a partner in the Sawyer-Miller Group, a
political and corporate communications consulting firm in New York. At
the time of his death, he was chairman of Shepardson Stern & Kaminsky,
a communications, consulting and advertising firm based in New York that
he helped found six years ago.
Throughout his career, McCall exhibited a strong passion for politics,
education and human rights. In the 1960's, he served on the boards of the
New York Urban League and the Congress for Racial Equality. Later, he
was a founding member of the Central Park Conservancy and of Meals on
Wheels.
He also used advertising to promote social causes. McCall helped organize
agencies around the country to create ads opposing the war in Vietnam, a
campaign called "Unsell the War." He created anti-tobacco advertising.
But he took most pride in "Schoolhouse Rock," an Emmy award-winning
series of animated educational segments aimed at children that was shown
on the ABC television network on Saturday and Sunday mornings from
1973 to 1985 and again in 1993.
McCall was married three times and is survived by six sons from his first
marriage, John P. McCall, Peter Cortelyou McCall, and David Bruce
McCall, Jr., all of New York City, and William Dudley McCall of Atlanta,
Robert McCall of Seattle and Thomas Clement McCall of Easton, Md.; a
sister, Margaret G. Wasley of Niantic, Conn., and six grandchildren.
He met his third wife at a party in Bridgehampton, and they were married
in 1978. Born Joan Partridge Mills, and known as Penny, Mrs. McCall was
born into wealth. Her mother was a member of the Ordway family, which
helped found the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, or 3M.
Mrs. McCall grew up in Greenwich, Conn., and attended the Ethel Walker
School in Simsbury. In addition to her refugee work, she devoted much of
her life to collecting art and supporting artists. She served on the board of
the New Museum of Contemporary Art in Manhattan and established the
Penny McCall Foundation to support contemporary artists, especially
women and minorities.
She was also a supporter of the Abyssinian Development Corporation in
Harlem and at the time of her death was working on an economic develop
project in Harlem to set up an urban fashion design and manufacturing
company in association with the Thurgood Marshall Academy.
Mrs. McCall is survived by her mother, Dorothy O. Mills of Greenwich; a
daughter from a previous marriage, Jennifer McSweeney Reuss of
Rowayton, Conn.; and two brothers, George P. Mills of New York City,
and Sam Mills of San Francisco.
In recent years, the McCalls had focused much of their attention on the
problem of land mines, which kill and maim thousands of refugees around
the world each year.
Only a few months ago, the couple were instrumental in starting a new
organization called the Independent Demining Assessment Center. Its aim
is to bring new mine detection and removal technology to the areas of the
world that need it, said Grace of Refugees International, which is helping to
organize the center. |
