Lasker, Albert Davis, 1880–1952, American advertising executive, sometimes called the founder of modern advertising, b. Freiburg, Germany. He came to the United States as an infant and entered advertising (1898) in Chicago as an office boy at the Lord & Thomas agency. He soon became a salesman, was chief copywriter by 1905, and by 1912 owned the company, which later became Foote, Cone & Belding. Lasker was a pioneer in selling products—inventing slogans, introducing photographs and art, obtaining celebrity endorsements, and effectively using these and many other sales techniques that are now standard practice in advertising. He sold his interest in his company in 1942 and with his wife, Mary Woodward Lasker (1900–94), established a foundation to administer the Lasker Awards, a prestigious set of grants that recognize achievement in medicine, medical research, and public health.
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