Ad agency founder and creator of "Schoolhouse Rock" David McCall, 71, died April 18 in a car accident while on a relief mission organized by Refugees International to help Kosovar refugees in Albania.
The New York Times reported that McCall and his wife Penny, 57, were on their way from Tirana, the Albanian capital, to Kukes during a heavy downpour when their car missed a sharp turn on a mountain road and plunged several hundred feet into a ravine. A well-known French aid worker, Yvette Pierpaoli, and the driver also perished in the wreck.
McCall, a native New Yorker, began his career in advertising in ’51 with a brief stint in the mailroom of Young & Rubicam, New York. From there he joined Ogilvy & Mather, New York, where he was eventually chosen by David Ogilvy to succeed him as chief copywriter. During his tenure at Ogilvy, McCall worked on campaigns for Sears, Roebuck & Company, Hathaway Shirts, and penned the famous tag line for Maxwell House Coffee, "Coffee that tastes as good as it smells."
In ’61, McCall and Jim McCaffrey, who he originally met at Y&R and then at Ogilvy, co-founded their own agency, McCaffrey & McCall, New York. There McCall worked on the historic campaign that changed the Esso name to Exxon in the U.S. Among others, McCall notably contributed to campaigns for Hai Karate After Shave Lotion in the ’60s and later Mercedes-Benz.
"He was a great guy to work for because even though he was the president of the company, he was always a creative guy at heart and truly believed in the creative product," related Grey Advertising, New York, art director Tom Yohe, who shared the title of co-creative director with George Neuall at McCaffrey & McCall from ’64 to ’77.
In the ’70s, McCall, along with Yohe, Neuall and freelance composer Bob Dorough, created the Emmy Award-winning animated series Schoolhouse Rock. According to Yohe, the idea was born when McCall’s son David Jr. had trouble remembering his multiplication tables, yet could remember every rock song he ever heard. The educational segments targeted at children taught subjects like grammar, mathematics and American history with classic songs like "Conjunction Junction," "My Hero, Zero" and "I’m Just a Bill." The show aired on the ABC Television Network on Saturday and Sunday mornings from ’73 to ’85 and made another appearance in ’93.
"When the show started airing again in the early ’90s, David was so pleased and proud to find out Schoolhouse Rock had truly impacted an entire generation," said Yohe. McCall eventually gave Schoolhouse Rock to Yohe and Neuall outright because in Neuall’s words, "he thought we just deserved it."
In ’83, McCaffrey & McCall was acquired by Saatchi & Saatchi and in ’88, McCall left to become partner at the Sawyer-Miller Group, a political and corporate communications and consulting firm based in New York. In ’93 McCall formed his own communications, consulting and advertising firm, Shepardson Stern & Kaminsky, where he was chairman.
Throughout his life McCall was consistently involved in human rights organizations and used advertising to help promote various causes. During the Vietnam War he created an ad campaign tagged "Unsell the War" and he also rallied for the anti-tobacco cause, most notably creating an anti-smoking PSA featuring Yul Brynner, who died of lung cancer.
McCall has served on the boards of the New York Urban League and the Congress for Racial Equality and later was a founding member of Meals on Wheels and Central Park Conservancy. According to Refugees International chairman Richard C. Holbrooke, McCall was to be named chairman of the organization later this year. In addition, the McCalls were pivotal in starting up the Independent Demining Assessment Center, an organization aimed at bringing new mine detection and removal technology to areas of the world that need it.
McCall is survived by a sister, Margaret G. Wasley, sons John, Peter, David Jr., William, Robert, Thomas, stepdaughter Jennifer McSweeney and six grandchildren.
