Longtime Madison Avenue advertising executive Richard “Dick” Tarlow, who was known for cosmetic and fashion clients including Revlon, Ralph Lauren and Neutrogena, died May 27. He was 81.
After working for several advertising agencies, Tarlow in 1977 started his own with partner Don Kurtz called Kurtz & Tarlow, which Ad Age a few years later called the fastest-growing shop in the nation. Just over a decade later, the agency was sold to Geers Gross, which was later sold to then-McCann Erickson and eventually became part of Interpublic Group of Cos.
At the behest of his former Max Factor client, the New York native began another shop—Tarlow Advertising—in the late 1980s, notching $50 million in billings in under two years. Tarlow later was bought by Revlon and became the in-house agency for the beauty brands giant, handling brands including Almay, Jean Nate and Jontue.
''Today I know what we do and how good we are and I don't have the fear any more,'' Tarlow told the legendary New York Times ad columnist Phil Dougherty in 1988 about opening his own agency. ''I'm a much better boss. Still demanding, but fairer.'' Tarlow's father, Ted, was a classmate of Bill Bernbach's at New York University, according to the Times.
In 1989, Tarlow co-founded Carlson & Partners with his wife and former partner at Kurtz & Tarlow, Sandy Carlson. The shop also saw high-profile clients such as Victoria’s Secret, Neutrogena and Ralph Lauren. Ralph Lauren “always had a movie in his mind, a vision of what he wanted his world to be,” Tarlow told Ad Age in 2003. Sandy Carlson died in 2003 and Carlson & Partners was sold to DDB.
"Dick Tarlow has a reputation for being a very fine creative advertising person,'' said the late Wally O'Brien in 1989, who was then president of marketing agency Hill Holliday in New York. “He's fair, and committed to advertising that sparkles and has an impact in the marketplace.”
Tarlow also dabbled in the hospitality and entertainment industries. In 1997, Tarlow and hotelier Andre Balazs opened the Sunset Beach Restaurant and Hotel on Shelter Island, New York, where he owned a home and resided until his death. He wrote the 2016 off-Broadway play “The Trial of an American President,” a dramatized mock trial of President George W. Bush for the War on Terror, and co-produced “The Wilde Wedding” film (2017), starring Glen Close, John Malkovich and Patrick Stewart.
