Dallas PR and Advertising Legend, ‘Stan the Man’ Levenson, Dies at 91

Source DMN By Cheryl Hall

Top Photo Credits: In 1969, Stan Levenson was offered part ownership in ZZ Top in return for his buying the group new amplifiers. File Photo / Staff

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Stan Levenson, Dallas’ widely respected public relations executive, community citizen, mentor and jazz aficionado, died early Wednesday morning from natural causes in his Uptown home. He was 91.

Levenson and his wife, Barbara, were instrumental in building public relations and advertising firms that spanned more than 50 years, including the best-known of those firms, Levenson, Levenson & Hill Inc.

Over the years, their clients included American Airlines, Chili’s, Papa John’s, Columbia Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Zale Corp., Parkland Foundation, Dallas Center for Performing Arts and the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas.

Stan created the campaign that launched Chili’s iconic “Baby Back Ribs” jingle.

The couple retired from their PR and advertising business 16 years ago because of ongoing health issues. They were married for 63 years.

“While our hearts are heavy with grief, we are also celebrating my father’s extraordinary life filled with love, integrity and service to others,” said Laura Levenson Gottesman, the couple’s older daughter who lives in Austin. “The wisdom he shared, the kindness he showed and the impact he made in the community will forever be remembered.”

Amy Levenson Krumholz, their daughter in Dallas, said her father lived fully to the end — filling his luncheon docket with friends as recently as a week before his death.

Levenson arrived on the Dallas scene in the ’60s to hawk records made by Pat Boone, Lawrence Welk and Billy Vaughn for Dot Records of Hollywood.

In 1966, Stan started Levenson Associates with Barbara, a part-time receptionist and $1,000. Calling it “associates” was a bit of a stretch.

PR was his area of expertise, advertising hers. They liked to say that they erased the lines between love and work.

He loved music as much as public relations but couldn’t afford to invest in a startup band called ZZ Top.

He greeted Diana Ross and The Supremes, Ann-Margret and other female artists with iconic Stetson Western hats upon their arrivals in Texas.

And if you wanted an over-the-top promotion to get media coverage — say a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus party with performers and elephants in the Dallas Hyatt Hotel ballroom — “Stan the Man” was the guy to call.

In 1967, Levenson, Angus Wynne III and three other partners opened Soul City on Lower Greenville Avenue — the first-of-its-kind R&B nightclub in Dallas. Ike & Tina Turner, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Little Richard and Kenny Rogers were headliners.

Most performers were Black, making it one of Dallas’ first nonsegregated nightlife spots.

Soul City closed in the ’80s and is pretty much lost to the past, said Wynne, who’s now the only remaining member of his “overly optimistic, rambunctious” startup friends.

“Stan was quite the enthusiast, which was one of the things we shared,” Wynne said. “Stan was a wonderful guy. I hope whatever you write reflects that he was a true gentleman and a pioneer of music. He was the best.”

Need more Stans

Just three months ago, Southern Methodist University honored Levenson at its Distinguished Living Legend Luncheon hosted by the division of corporate communication and public affairs at the Meadows School of the Arts.

The grand atrium was filled with family, friends, community leaders, former colleagues and university officials, including Jay Hartzell, the school’s new president.

“Stan Levenson helped shape corporate trajectories and consumers’ experiences,” Hartzell said in learning of Levenson’s death. “Many household brands that we know of today became that way due to Stan and his team. But, perhaps more importantly, Stan treated others with kindness, generosity, respect and caring.

“I wish we had had more Stan Levensons.”

Justin Lonon, chancellor of Dallas College, worked briefly with Levenson doing public affairs before leaving to chart a new career path 20 years ago. But they stayed friends.

“When I arrived in Dallas 28 years ago, Stan was everywhere,” said Lonon, who was press secretary for Ron Kirk when he was Dallas mayor. “Everyone who knew Stan developed a friendship. He was such a developer of people and talent. ”

Crayton Webb, owner and CEO of Sunwest Communications in Dallas, was his PR mentor’s last lunch partner.

“There are about 100 of us in the public relations field in Dallas who will swear to you that we were Stan’s favorite,” Webb said. “He was so gifted at making everybody that he met or talked to feel like they were the most important person he’d ever met. He made you feel like a million dollars.”

Man on many missions

Brad Cheves, senior vice president for development and external affairs at SMU, worked with Levenson for decades and said he did everything the university ever asked — and then some.

“Stan was one of the great ones,” Cheves said. “Not many people would have suspected that Stan was a longtime, faithful member of the Perkins School of Theology executive board even as a man of Jewish heritage. He often provided SMU and Perkins with pro bono public relations and creative marketing and communications advice.

“This was emblematic of how wonderful he was at bringing people together of all backgrounds and perspectives which made his creative genius that much more impactful as a businessman and a peacemaker.”

Dean Emeritus Craig Hill said, “Stan brought his expertise as a leader in the field of marketing and advertising and enthusiastically supported our efforts to tell the Perkins story.”

As chairman of the Greater Dallas Chamber’s marketing committee, Levenson directed numerous civic initiatives, including the Mayor’s Task Force on Marketing Southern Dallas; chairing the grand opening of the African American Museum at Fair Park; and serving on the boards of the Dallas Arboretum and the North Texas Commission. He also was a member of the President’s Council of the AT&T Center for the Performing Arts and the Legacy Council at the Sammons Center for the Performing Arts.

Janette Monear, president and CEO of the Texas Trees Foundation, said Levenson was a trustee for more than 30 years.

“Stan’s personal and professional impact on each person he interacted with made each of us better people in both our work and professional lives,” she said. “His kindness and professional perspective made people feel heard and appreciated. He exemplified what is important in a leader: humility, integrity, kindness, respectful, honest, and present.”

Bobby Lyle, whose last name is on the SMU’s school of engineering, has been a friend of the Levensons for 61 years. But he got to know Stan professionally through their shared experiences on several community projects, including Texas Trees.

“He was a gentle man who treated everyone he met with dignity and respect,” Lyle said. “He was a mentor to many and a great role model for young professionals coming into our city.”

Levenson was also a longtime board member at the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum and continued to do pro bono marketing work after he rolled off of it.

“Stan arrived at every meeting with a folder of carefully clipped articles he thought I should read,” said Mary Pat Higgins, museum president and CEO. “He consistently offered wise counsel about the importance of helping the community understand the meaning and purpose they could find through a visit to the museum. He always delivered that advice with an unmistakable twinkle in his eye.”

In 2010, Levenson gave his massive jazz collection to Tulane University in New Orleans.

But old passions die hard. He hit replay, building another collection of nearly 3,000 pieces encompassing albums, tapes, CDs, DVDs, books, memoirs and biographies. To mark his 90th birthday, he gave it to The Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, & Technology at UTD.

At most homes, parents have to yell at their children to turn down the volume blasting from their rooms.

“In our house, it was the exact opposite,” Levenson Krumholz said. “Dad would come home late from work, blast jazz throughout the house, and I’d find myself yelling over the horns for him to turn it down.”

Levenson is survived by Barbara Levenson, his wife of 63 years; their daughter and son-in-law, Laura Levenson Gottesman and Morris Gottesman of Austin; their daughter Amy Levenson Krumholz of Dallas; his brother and his wife, Alan and Renay Levenson of Atlanta; his sister and her husband, Carol Salmon and Norman Broad of Miami; and six grandsons, four great-grandsons and one great-granddaughter.