Robert J. Dale, known to friends and associates as Bob, was truly larger than life. Bob had a smile that would light up a room. He loved to laugh, but he was serious as heck when it came to helping Black people. Bob was known for his generosity, his love for his fellow person and his great sense of humor.
Bob’s love for sports dates back to when he served as a member of the United States Air Force basketball team. His activism was evident even in college. While pursuing his B.S. degree in business, he was elected president of the Black Student Union. There, he did a lot more than hold the title of president. He led efforts encouraging the administration to have cultural educational assistance and housing for Black students. Always looked up to as a leader, he was also elected student senator from Arizona State’s College of Business.
Bob was a much-loved professor of marketing at Chicago State University. To many of his students he was not only an involved and caring instructor, but he was also a father figure. And why not? Bob had fathering down to a science.
He raised his three biological sons, Kondo, Kareem and Yusef to excel in life as citizens, Kondo as a beloved minister and Kareem and Yusef as successful attorneys, and all three as concerned community participants. His son, Kareem, served in the Obama administration as special assistant to the President on Disability Policy. His son, Yusef is an Assistant U.S. Attorney and also an Administrative Law Lawyer. Both Kareem and Yusef are blind, but Bob never raised them as if they were handicapped, and so, they don’t navigate life as if they are handicapped. It takes an amazing man to father his children in that way.
Bob was very open about many things in his life, such as his great love for his wife, Cathy Dale. Shortly after I began working for RJ Dale Advertising, I heard about this woman named Cathy who Bob was going to marry. He had been married before and told us that he said he would never marry again, but he loved Cathy too much not to marry her. The whole staff knew about the beautiful ring he had made for her by Eddie Ford Jewelers. Bob raised Cathy’s son, Damon, as if he was his own giving him the same kind of love and guidance he gave Kondo, Kareem and Yusef.
Bob once told me about a dinner he attended where organizations were receiving monetary awards from businesses.
He said that most of the organizations were white, as were most of the businesses, and at that time, it dawned on him that private funding from businesses kept organizations going.
It also occurred to him that there was a need for more Black businesses to fund more Black organizations and causes. That, he told me, was the number one reason he decided to start an advertising agency. So, he co-founded Ad Works, which later became R. J. Dale Advertising Agency.
True to his word and his mission, he was supportive of many Black organizations and ventures, including Jackie Taylor’s Black Ensemble Theater, where he was president of the board for the longest, until his son took over. He was also supportive of Being Single Magazine and served on the boards of Chicago State University College of Business, the Black Public Relations Society, the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, the Association of Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs, and the Institute of Positive Education, where he was elected board president. He was also Chairman of the Board of the Illinois State Black Chamber of Commerce.
Like any Black agency, RJ Dale Advertising was sometimes a victim of politics. Our tiny agency went up against eight major agencies in the bid to get the Toyota Camry business. Six agencies were eliminated and two were left standing, one of which was RJ Dale. In the end, the larger, more politically connected agency won, but we were still proud of how far we went.
When the Illinois State Lottery put out a bid for an agency, they didn’t expect a little Black agency to come up with the best campaign. But the client loved our “Have A Ball” campaign, and if they wanted the slogan, they had to take the agency, much to the chagrin of the mainstream media who hated the idea of a little Black agency winning that $20 million account.
I remember how Bob used to criticize religion. I remember the day that all changed, and he joined Trinity United Church of Christ.
In 2018, I called Bob to wish him happy birthday. He told me that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and was part of a support group that met at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He was very positive and optimistic and told me that he knew Cathy was going to take good care of him. And she did. I saw them out occasionally and he was always happy, always smiling. The last time I saw him was at the Victory Party for Mayor Brandon Johnson. He loved doo wops and some rap music (he was one of the few Black men I knew who didn’t like jazz and was proud of it). A dusty record was playing, and Bob stood up and began dancing. He was in his world.
Bob’s was a life well lived. Now he’s in heaven, joking with the angels, throwing back his head and letting out that infectious laugh, maybe riffing a Tupac rap, or listening to his favorite doo wop and dancing like nobody’s watching. The world is a little better because Robert J. Dale lived in it.
