Dean Gillette Van Nest

Chatham, MA and Naples, FL

Dean Gillette Van Nest died on March 26th, in Naples, Florida. Born in

Windom, MN on November 25. 1923, he later moved with his family to Minneapolis. He was the son of Leland Stanford Van Nest and Ethel G. Van Nest. In his retirement Dean was a resident of

Chatham, MA and Naples, FL.

Dean received his Bachelor's Degree in Engineering from Northwestern

University. He was elected to Tau Bets Pi (engineering) and Phi Eta Sigma (mathematics). He was a member of the Beta Theta

fraternity. During the second war Dean was assigned to a special Engineering Task Force in training at Princeton

University and later at the US Naval Academy where received his reserve commission as a Navy Ensign. With the anticipated invasion of Japan, Dean served as the R Division Officer on a small carrier in the South Pacific.

After leaving the service, Dean received his Master's Degree at the Harvard Business School. His first job was with Time.Inc in New York where he was Assistant to the Director of a massive printing arts research project involving the leading ink, paper, printing press, and electronic scanning experts nationwide. At that time in New York Dean met several top executives of J Walter Thompson which was then the world's largest advertising agency. He also met the venerable 80 year old President, Stanley Resor, who had the reputation for hiring people with very different backgrounds. For Dean this rather suprising career move to Thompson resulted in a highly successful 36 years as a New York advertising man.

Dean's talents were ideally suited to what was happening in the marketing world of the 50's and 60's. He had a strong creative bent which meant he worked well with creative people-copywriters, art directors, radio and TV producers. At the same time marketing companies with sizable

advertising budgets were moving toward a much more disciplined Proctor and Gamble business style with very precise marketing plans and dedicated, well trained product managers. With his engineering background, Dean related extremely well to these people and their more disciplined approach to marketing, Dean left Thompson after 10 years to become Vice President of DSCC-NY. In 1983 he joined the William Esty Company where he worked for over 22 years and was a Senior Vice President and Account

Supervisor. Over the years Dean worked with a wide range of clients--American Home Products, Bristol Myers,

Chesebrough-Ponds. Colgate, Eastman Kodak, NBC, RJ Reynolds Foods. Scott Paper, Swift, and Warner Lambert. Those were the days of long term relationships; he worked for one client, Chesbrough-Ponds, for over 30 years.

Throughout Dean's life public speaking and teaching were a high priority. As a high school student Dean placed second in an extemporary speaking contest which resulted in a scholarship to Northwestern University's School of Speech. For more than 20 years Dean taught evening courses in

marketing at New York's Pace University. He especially liked taking part in the many seminars sponsored by NYU and Pace. A typical seminar would be a week long course to familiarize Chinese business people with American

marketing methods.

As a stockholder of William Esty. the sale of the company in th 80's made it possible for Dean to retire and finish the work on his doctorate. His dissertation, Developing Global New Products, was widely available as a reference book on globalization. For a short period Dr, Van Nest became the head of the Marketing Department at Pace University. He then retired to Naples, FL and became a full professor at the University of Miami where he taught graduate and undergraduate marketing classes. In Naples, FL Dr. Van Nest helped launch a unique leadership course for retirees which is now in its 20th year with over 600 graduates.

In New York Dean was a member of the Racquet and Tennis Club, the Harvard Club, the St. Nicholas Society, the Holland Society and the Holland Lodge. In his retirement he was a member of the Harvard Club of Boston and New York and in Naples the Port Royal Club and the Naples Yacht Club.

Dean is survived by his wife, the former Joan H. Reiguluth, a daughter, Kathleen Pierce of Hong Kong, a son, Dean Van Nest, Jr. of New Haven, CT and four grandchildren-Kristen, Nicholas, Lola, and Beckett.