Jerry Irwin Mander (May 1, 1936 – April 11, 2023) was an American activist and author in San Francisco, known for his use of advertising for progressive and ecological causes and for his 1978 book, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television.
Early life and education
Mander was born in the Bronx, New York City, and raised in Yonkers, one of two children of Harry Mander, a garment worker who later started a company manufacturing clothing linings, and his wife Eva. Both of his parents were Jewish immigrants who had left Poland and Romania, respectively, to escape persecution.
Mander originally aspired to be a professional golfer. He graduated from Lincoln High School in 1953, and then earned a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1957, and an M.S. in international economics from Columbia University in 1959.
Career
After working for a short time in public relations for Worthington Corporation in Newark, New Jersey, in 1960 Mander moved to San Francisco, where he was hired as a publicist for the San Francisco International Film Festival. In 1966, he joined Howard Gossage's advertising agency, which became Freeman, Mander & Gossage after Mander became a partner. Clients included the comedy troupes the Committee, for whom Mander ran a full-page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle announcing a competition to donate war toys to be air-dropped on the Pentagon, and "Now Only You Can Save Grand Canyon From Being Flooded ... For Profit", included coupons for readers to clip and mail to the President and the Secretary of the Interior.
Mander published eight non-fiction books, the best known being Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television in 1978, He remarried in 1987 to Elizabeth Garsonnin, a filmmaker and colleague at the Public Media Center, from whom he was also divorced, and in 2009 to Koohan Paik, also a filmmaker. They split their time between his longtime home in Bolinas, California, and her home in Hawaii.