My friend and colleague, Bruce Dorskind passed away this past week.We were friends for 35 years when I met him on a 57th Street crosstown bus during a New York snow storm. Always a gentleman, he gave me his seat and an umbrella.
Our friendship began and I learned more from Bruce than anyone over the years.
Everytime we had our monthly breakfast meeting at Tal's bagels, I walked away with page full of notes, to do's and ideas. Brilliant, witty and always said it like it was, he was clearly one of the Best connectors and Networkers the world has ever known and I'm sure he is starting to work his magic up above.
Take a look at the wonderful article written this week in Executive Recruiting News.
The accolades and tributes continue to pour in for Bruce Dorskind, the man who so many credit with being a founder, if not the founder of modern recruitment advertising.
What Roberto Angulo, CEO and co-founder of AfterCollege.com, typical of the comments posted on brucedorskindremembered.com:
Bruce was a great connector. He knew almost everyone in the recruitment advertising industry, and he connected many of us. Because of him, companies merged, partnerships were forged, and friendships were made. He was a fountain of ideas and advice.
Dorskind, 62, who died August 2 after a long illness, was both a driving force behind the founding of Monster Worldwide and one of the global experts on baseball collectibles. His collection of baseball cards alone is one of the largest and most valuable in the world. His memorabilia has been displayed by several museums, including The Museum of The City Of New York.
By recruitment professionals, Dorskind will be remembered for his role in creating Monster. In the mid-1990s, when the Internet was still a mystery to most of the world, Dorskind convinced TMP, a Yellow Pages advertising company, to buy an online job board owned by a small recruitment marketing firm. The Monster Board grew into the dominant employment marketplace in the world, as TMP went on to acquire dozens of other employment communications firms and job boards, largely under Dorskind’s guidance.
Harold Levy, an early leader at TMP and today director of business development at Korn Ferry’s Futurestep, recounted Dorskind’s role shaping TMP’s employment marketing:
Bruce would help to acquire 35 agencies on four continents. Along the way he built an international organization that was second to none. He also brought thousands of people together. From founders to entry-level employees — all of whom he knew on a first name basis. His memory was astounding. Whether he was quoting an article he had read two years earlier or asking about an account executive who had caught his eye. Bruce never forgot a face or a name, or your spouse’s name, or where your son went to school.
Levy told Aimgroup’s Peter Zollman that “It’s unlikely there would have been a Monster.com if not for Bruce.”
His influence on the industry went well beyond Monster. Mike Temkin, a vice president at Shaker Recruitment Advertising & Communication, wrote:
Bruce’s marketing and senior-level management experience was sought-after for three decades from those of us in the advertising, internet and publishing sectors. Along with our own founder at Shaker, Joseph R. Shaker, as well as other pioneers during the formative years of our industry, Bruce guided senior leaders as well as young, new recruits in our industry to become more-responsive and more valuable to HR practitioners.
To those he would get to know, Dorskind would regularly send clippings of articles from newspapers, magazines, and journals. A prolific reader of almost everything, his New York office was as much archive as place of business. David Kippen, CEO of the brand strategy and marketing consultancy Evviva, recalled his visits with Dorskind, “I always enjoyed our visits — watching you rummage through mountain-high stacks of agency collateral, clippings, magazines, white papers to find the exact quote. And of course, you’d quoted it exactly right.”
As gracious and personable as Dorskind could be in person, on the baseball collector site, www.net54baseball.com, he’s remembered for his outrageous behavior, including rude, even vile posts, about the knowledge of other collectors and the quality of their collections. But even in the forum where many posted harsh words about his online persona, his expertise is unchallenged.
In the recruiting world, though, Dorskind will be remembered more as Andrea Nierenberg, president of the eponymous search and recruitment communications group, did:
I will forever cherish your wit, charm, brilliance, and friendship. I never left a meeting or call without a page of notes of what I learned from you.You are loved and cherished by many around the world and you will live forever in our hearts.
Andrea — what a lovely tribute to Bruce. I didn’t know him or about his accomplishments. I know you will miss him and I’m sorry for your loss.