Dick Friese, a former Travel Weekly publisher, died on Sept. 14 at the age of 92.
In 1969, Friese joined Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, where in a span of 19 years he served as publisher of Hotel and Travel Index, publisher of Travel Weekly, corporate senior vice president, president of the Ziff-Davis business publications division and finally president of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company.
Ziff-Davis published over 50 consumer magazines and business publications. Friese was an expert in magazine branding and positioning. One of his most notable repositionings was Travel Weekly, a struggling publication that grew in 18 months to become the largest travel trade publication in the world.
Friese retired in 1988 following the sale of Ziff-Davis to NewsCorp and CBS Magazines. Six months later, he was a principal in the acquisition of Travel Agent Magazine from Capital Cities Communications, serving as president, publisher and editorial director. He repositioned the publication as a newsweekly for the travel industry. Over the next ten years, Friese authored over 500 articles concerning industry affairs, aviation and government issues, and interpretation of the news.
Friese served as an advisor to the University of South Carolina in developing the Alfred Sloan Foundation School for Travel and Tourism. He served as an advisor to President Bill Clinton on the development of Clinton's White House Conference on Travel and Tourism. Friese also served on the board of directors for the Travel Industry Association of America.
Before going into publishing, Friese was in the advertising industry, beginning his career in 1953 with J. Walter Thompson in New York. He was appointed account executive for UniLever's Lux Toilet Soap. In 1955, Friese moved to San Juan to open and manage a J. Walter Thompson office in the Caribbean. One of the company's largest clients was Pan American World Airways.
In 1962, Friese joined Newsweek at a time when the magazine industry was heavily recruiting advertising agency executives. For the next ten years, he served as corporate adverting manager and head of three branch offices in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and Chicago.
An alumnus of New York University, Friese served with the U.S. Air Force during and after the Korean War.