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July 12, 1928 - October 26, 2015 Freeman Fisher Gosden Jr. of Santa Barbara, CA, passed away October 26, at Casa Dorinda, his home for the last 14 years. He was predeceased in August 2015 by his wife of 60 years, Dorothy (Paxton) Gosden. Freeman was born in Chicago in 1928 to Leta Marie (Schreiber) and Freeman Fisher Gosden and attended the Latin School for Boys. The family moved to Beverly Hills, CA, in 1934, where he attended Hawthorne School. He went on to Culver Military Academy and Princeton University, where he graduated in 1950 He served as a 1st Lieutenant in the Army. While employed in the oil business in Texas, Freeman contracted polio. He returned to Los Angeles to recover and continued his career in advertising at Rexall Drug and Market Compilation & Research Bureau. Freeman was a partner in Smith-Hemmings-Gosden, a pioneer advertising agency in direct marketing, which later merged into Foote, Cone & Belding. He grew the business into the third largest direct marketer in the world and retired as chairman of FCB Direct Marketing Worldwide. Freeman created the original frequent flyer program and founded Me Books, one of the country's largest selling children's books. He taught direct marketing at over 120 colleges and corporations and was Direct Marketing Educational Association's Man of the Year. His book, Direct Marketing: What Works and Why, sold over 100,000 copies and was published in four languages. Freeman served as a consultant to Williams-Sonoma, Shell Oil, Lionel Trains and the National Stuttering Association. He was president of The Beach Club, Santa Monica, CA, and a member of the board of the Santa Barbara Symphony. Freeman is survived by his daughters Lee Curtis Gosden and Jill Gosden Pollock (Gordon Lee), his grandchildren Katherine and Henry Pollock, his sister Virginia Jackson, his stepmother Jane Gosden, his half-brother Craig Gosden, and his half-sister Linda Gosden Robinson. In lieu of flowers, please support the Santa Barbara Symphony www.thesymphony.org
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Published in the Los Angeles Times from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1, 2015
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