Our deepest thanks to: James O’Shea Wade, independent editor and former senior executive with seven major publishing companies, for his professionalism and perseverance; life-long friends of the Park family Dr. Richard R. Cole, former dean of The University of North Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the late Professor Emeritus William B. Ward of Cornell University’s Department of Communication Arts, for their painstaking time and personal input; and Bonnie Angelo, longtime correspondent and former Washington reporter and bureau chief in London and New York for Time magazine and author of First Mothers and First Families, for her support and interest.
Also to the late Sam Johnson of S.C. Johnson, one of the most successful family businesses in the country, who worked with two Park generations on behalf of Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, and was the first to suggest this book be written; to Dr. Bryant Mangum, professor of American Literature at Virginia Commonwealth University for his knowledge and insight; and to our attorneys with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC, and Clifton & Singer, LLP, in North Carolina; and Troy & Troy, P.C., True & Walsh, LLP, and Williamson Clune & Stevens in New York state for their legal advice.
As well as, to former and current employees of Park Outdoor Advertising, the small but dedicated staff of Triad Foundation and former employees of my father throughout his four careers who contributed their thoughts and anecdotes to this work. And to my backup fact-checker, Steve Magacs, and Michelle Hemingway, who retyped every page of this book over and over for the last seven years without ever complaining.
Finally, to my wife, Tetlow, for her patience, and to my mother, Dorothy D. Park, for ably surviving her partnership with her quintessential and hyperactive spouse. God bless you all. And from all of us who worked on it, we hope you enjoy the story.
