Ad executive Peter Mayer dies; funeral set for Monday

PETER ARNO MAYER, considered one of the most well-known and respected advertising executives in New Orleans died yesterday, July 14. He was 86.

Peter Mayer

Mayer’s clients were among the most coveted in New Orleans and he built his multi-million dollar advertising agency Peter B. Mayer Company into one of the largest in the region. Among his national clients were Hospital Corporation of America, Zatarain’s, Global Star, Sanderson Farms, Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center, G.E. Capital, Marucci and local powerhouses The Sazerac Company, Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Zatarain’s Foods.

Successful Peter Mayer campaigns for local clients included The New Orleans Saints, The New Orleans Tourism Marketing Board, NOLA Brewing Company, Smoothie King, Piccadilly Cafeterias, The National World War II Museum, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Louisiana SPCA and the Audubon Nature Institute.

Regionally, he also represented Community Coffee and Luzianne Brands, the Delta Queen Steamboat Company, Hancock Bank/Whitney Bank, the Florida Emerald Coast,  the Louisiana Economic Development Company and Mississippi Power and Light.

Mayer was born in 1929 in Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Germany, and settled in New Orleans as a six-year-old refugee, in 1935. When he fled Nazi Germany, he was not able to speak a word of English, yet he adapted and made his life the very definition of the American dream come true.

Following an education in the New Orleans Public School system, Mayer later attended classes at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism. It was there he earned the nickname “Junior” as the youngest member of the Alpha Epsilon Phi fraternity and was also in charge of their goat mascot.

Following a brief service in the U.S. Air Force, he started his advertising career in the Circulation Department of The Times-Picayune. He later joined the Fitzgerald Advertising company and then the Walker Saussy Advertising agency. With the help of Dorothea “Dot” Cahn, he started Peter Mayer Advertising in 1967. His talent, wit, charm, unbridled optimism and strong ethics helped his agency grow to one of the largest in the state, and later, the Gulf South.

He is survived by his wife Linda Bailey Mayer and his previous spouse Tamara Bernstein Mayer, his sons Mark, Eric and Josh Mayer and daughters-in-law Mindy Mayer, Isabelle Mayer and Jill Dupre, his sister, Ann Levin of Los Angeles and eight grandchildren.

Peter always found time to give encouragement and energy to worthy causes: WYES-TV, The Vieux Carré Commission, LSU Manship School of Mass Communication, The United Way, The Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans and The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, to name but a few. He served as Adjunct Professor of Advertising at Loyola University. He always took time to meet with and encourage young people trying to launch a career in marketing.

For many years, he held court on the sidewalk of Camp Street smoking a cigar after lunch in a director’s chair. He had conversations with all who passed by and always saw the best in people and situations. It was said that he didn’t have a bad day in his life. On weekends, he was often found at his cabin on the pond in Lumberton, Mississippi, feeding birds, catching fish and cursing beavers.

A raconteur, Mayer frequently regaled friends and strangers with exaggerated stories of exotic foods, foreign travel, fishing conquests and the newest jokes. His special gift was always finding the humor in any situation. He considered himself lucky to have been given such a blessed and charmed life. He loved bow ties, World War II history, reading and eating. He was notably fond of unusual food items like sushi, spumoni and chicken feet. He loved discussing  politics, particularly in the company of his family and many friends. Mayer loved celebrating the Jewish Holidays, especially when they featured various food items..

To say that food was important to his life would be an understatement. He looked forward to three things every day: where to have lunch, whom to have lunch with and what to order. He was a member of the International Wine and Food Society, The Societe des Escargots de Orleanais,” a men’s culinary club, and the long-standing Friday Lunch group. He was also a regular for breakfast for 40 years at the Commerce Restaurant. He delighted in being the first to try a new restaurant.

He had a thing for unusual hats.

In 1982, he was awarded the New Orleans Ad Club’s Silver Medal Award. In 1994, he was inducted into the Louisiana Broadcasters Hall of Fame. He was honored as a YLC Role Model in 1996. He was co-chairman of the United Way annual fund drive in 1999. He was featured in the 2009 book How They Did It: Profiles of New Orleans Entrepreneurs. 

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to WYES or The Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana

Services were conducted on Monday, July 18 at Touro Synagogue, 4238 St. Charles Avenue at 10:15 a.m. Cantor David Mintz officiated. Burial followed immediately in Hebrew Rest Cemetery No. 3, 2003 Pelopidas Street.

Lakelawn Metairie Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.