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by Dave Morgan
, Featured Contributor,
November 16, 2021
Our industry lost
its guiding light today. John Durham has died.
As anyone who ever interacted with him knows, John was perfectly good.
No one had a bigger impact or played a more
important leadership role in digital advertising over the past 25 years than John Durham. As far back as 1995, when the first websites were launching and it was every person for themselves, John was
selflessly evangelizing our industry, not just his products, while leading sales at Softbank Interactive Marketing.
The people and entities that John touched, inspired, created and
worked at -- day in and day out -- are innumerable. SFBig. IAB. iMedia. Upstream Group. Every entrepreneur, executive and leader in our industry owes so much to John. And, what was so important to
John, and to our industry, was his 29 years as a professor at the University of San Francisco, training thousands of students in the world of advertising.
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The digital ad companies
John led are our industry’s pioneers and “Bell Cows” -- Winstar, Pericles, Carat Interactive, Jumpstart and Catalyst -- and our industry was born, grew and matured in companies that
John led.
What did John do for our industry? He was there when we defined the banner, the impression, and the standard insertion order. He helped us focus on creativity, strategy and
customer service. He did this in spite of, and in contravention of, everyone else focusing on servicing the almighty buck.
John helped us pick ourselves up from the ground after the
devastating bursting of the dot com bubble in 2000. His advice, counsel, guidance and cautions guided so many of us through that time, and so many other critical gates, gauntlets and moments that
mattered over these many years.
I am crying as I write this. I am drinking the best red I could find. I know that is what John would want. I know that it is how he would want to be
celebrated.
I also know that John would be uncomfortable being celebrated. John was a very modest and private man. He sought to keep his accomplishments and his interventions out of
the sight of others. I will respect that.
However, as many of you may know, John was also a man of faith. He changed me that way. I have never known a more optimistic and faithful
person than John Durham. He believed in the goodness of all of us. He believed in the goodness of humanity. He made me believe, and I promise him now that I will never lose faith. Thank you John
Durham.