Remembering Garry Myers
Garry C. Myers III, 59, Chief Executive Officer of Highlights for Children, Inc., died unexpectedly on January 26 in Columbus, Ohio. He was a friend and patron and champion, instrumental in helping to launch Stenhouse with conversations that began twelve years ago at the IRA conference in San Antonio. Stenhouse would not have got started, much less be where it is, without him. He was a grandson of Garry Cleveland Myers, Ph.D., and Caroline Clark Myers, who founded Highlights for Children magazine in 1946. His association with Highlights started in his early teens when he worked with the address-o-graph machine labeling magazines under the supervision of the late Jess Anderson, a longtime Highlights employee. Myers was the early model for Gallant, the much-loved brother in the popular Highlights feature Goofus and Gallant®. His parents, Garry C. Myers Jr. and Mary M. Myers, were critically important in the magazine's success in the marketplace. They served as president and vice president, respectively, of the company until their deaths in an air disaster in 1960. After growing up in Columbus, Myers moved to Austin, Texas, with his four siblings following the death of their parents. They lived with their uncle and aunt, Jack and Evelyn Myers, and their family in Texas. In 1964, Myers entered Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and the next year enlisted in the U.S. Army for four years. He graduated from U.S. Army Language School in Monterey, California, and served as a Spanish language specialist in Panama. He received a bachelor's degree in International Affairs at George Washington University in 1972 and then earned a M.B.A. in marketing from the University of Michigan. In 1971 at age 24 and while still in the Army, Myers was elected to the board of directors of Highlights for Children, Inc. He joined Highlights in 1975 as a management information analyst. In 1978, he became vice president of mail sales and promotion and in 1980 was named president of the Highlights corporation. Myers had been chief executive officer since 1981. He was a tireless advocate for business ethics, innovative and wholesome educational publishing, and family-owned corporations. Myers was active in the educational publishing industry, serving on the board of the Direct Marketing Association, Classroom Mailers Association, Classroom Publishers Association, and Direct Selling Association. He chaired the Ethics Committee of the Direct Marketing Association for a number of years. Surviving are sons, Gregory, 17, and Garry Myers IV, 29, and their mother, Melanie Myers, all of Columbus; two sisters, Patricia Mikelson, of Columbus, and Marie Jolene Rich, of Maine; two brothers, Tom and Fred Myers, of Austin, Texas; his paternal uncle, Jack Myers, and numerous cousins. Highlights for Children, Inc., publishes Highlights for Children magazine and a variety of offerings for children. Subsidiaries include Zaner-Bloser, Inc., Columbus, Ohio; Boyds Mills Press, Honesdale, Pennsylvania; Teaching K-8 magazine, Norwalk, Connecticut; Stenhouse Publishers, Portland, Maine; SDE, Peterborough, New Hampshire; and Highlights-Jigsaw Toy Factory Ltd., and Highlights Catalog, Columbus, Ohio. Memorial contributions may be made to the Garry C. Myers III Scholarship Fund, Highlights Foundation, 814 Court Street, Honesdale, PA 18431.
