The Idaho advertising community lost one of it’s founders with the passing on John Givens on Monday, February 1st, 2010.
Not familiar with the name? Unfortunately, neither was I until last week.
John Givens was a third-generation Boisean, a graduate of Boise High School and after service in the United States Naval Air Corp during World War II, a student at the Boise Junior College and the University of Idaho, among others.
John began his career in advertising in 1947, and in 1952 he founded Givens-Davies Advertising, Inc. with Kenneth R. Davies. He helped grow the agency to become one of the largest and most powerful in Idaho, and a major player in the Pacific Northwest. Note: Givens-Davies would later go on to become Davies-Rourke, and in its current form is known as DaviesMoore.
Later, he went on to form John Givens Advertising, Inc., and in 1988 was awarded the Silver Medal from the Boise Advertising Federation. John retired from advertising in 1987.
Among his many accomplishments, John was instrumental in coordinating public relations and fundraising efforts for the Morrison Center for the Performing Arts, and creating the Idaho Governor’s Cup golf tournament scholarship fundraiser.
John is survived by five children, two grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.
A memorial service was held on Saturday, February 6th.
While I never had the chance to meet John Givens, I would like to offer a belated ‘thank you’ to him on behalf of the entire advertising and marketing community in Idaho for everything that he did over the years, and those that he helped guide and inspire.
A complete obituary is available here, if you’d like to read more.
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