Direct Marketing Veteran John J. Flieder Passes Away; DMEF Establishes Fund

July 8, 2008 — Direct marketing veteran, businessman, and community activist John J. Flieder passed away on June 30 after a lengthy battle with kidney and bladder cancers. He was 71.

Flieder was a co-founder of The Callahan Group in 1995, where one of its principal clients was American International Group's (AIG) personal casualty lines insurance division based in Wilmington, DE. Prior to that, he spent 33 years at Allstate Corp., where he headed marketing support for the company’s sales forces.

In addition, Flieder dedicated his career to providing educators and students leading-edge resources to ensure the perpetuation of talent and practices among tomorrow’s business leaders.

Flieder was a director of the Direct Marketing Education Foundation (DMEF) and Association of National Advertisers. In 1986, he was named Direct Marketer of the Year in Chicago, and in 1989 he received both the DMEF’s Edward N. Mayer, Jr. Education Leadership Award and the DMA Insurance Council’s Direct Marketer of the Year Award.

In recognition of Flieder’s commitment to direct/interactive marketing education, DMEF in May created the John Flieder Fund. The fund is designed to recognize Flieder’s interest in education by providing access to the DMEF’s Professors’ Academy, an online, password protected area, where college and university teachers of direct / interactive marketing can find educational resources. This will be one of many new elements included in the DMEF’s new website, scheduled to launch in August.

“Overwhelmed with admiration, I had the rare and poignant opportunity to conceptualize and finalize plans for this fund with John himself — whose unwavering hope will always remain a beacon,” said Allen W. Dyon, DMEF chairman and identified by John as the administrator of the Fund.

“John was our friend, our mentor, and truly an inspiration to all,” Dyon continued. “His was an unmatched spirit; a man whose vocation had always been to help others; a man whose passion and tireless mission had directly impacted not only the individuals that had the opportunity and honor to work beside him, but the entire direct/interactive marketing community. The greatest gift, as John Flieder so aptly demonstrated, is the gift of giving back. Please join the DMEF in this tribute to a man whose loyalty, courage, and remarkable character will continue to embrace and encourage the generations to come.”

For more information about the John Flieder Fund, visit DMEF’s website at www.the-dmef.org or click here http://www.the-dma.org/dmef/Flieder.shtml.

Flieder was born in Bremerton, WA, on August 16, 1936, to the late Louis and Bertha Flieder. He attended local schools, where he met and married his wife of more than 50 years, Barbara (Bartlett).

In addition to his wife, he is survived by four children and spouses, Jerry and Janelle Flieder, of Sycamore, IL; Susan Flieder and Paul Eichen, of San Diego; Karen Flieder and Scott Maroon, of Palatine, IL; and Julie Flieder, of San Francisco.

He also leaves six grandchildren: Emily, Hannah, Claire and Graham Flieder, of Sycamore, CA, and Roberto and Ana Rosa Eichen, of San Diego; several nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews, and two great-great nieces. He leaves an older brother, Gerald Flieder of Walnut Creek, CA and his brother-in-law, Jim Henry, of Arizona.

No funeral services will be held at Flieder's request. Contributions can be made in his memory to Visiting Nurse Association-Hospice of the Sierra, 20100 N. Cedar Road, Sonora, 95370, or the Inpatient Dialysis Fund at Sonora Regional Medical Center, a fund the Flieders initiated after his 2007 hospital stay and for which they raised more than $75,000.

For Mr. Flieder’s full obituary, which was published in The Union Democrat (Sonora, CA) on July 3, click here.

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