The Merrill Dubrow Blog

When I hear words that describe a person like:

• Successful
• Intelligent
• Entrepreneurial
• Competitive
• Giving

I can close my eyes and one person comes to mind very quickly. His name is Sandy Schwartz.

I first met Sandy when he was President of Elrick & Lavidge in 1988. During that year, Sandy was growing the company and acquired Field Facts where I was working.

Sandy has had an unbelievable career in research that has spanned over 30 years. He clearly was responsible for accelerated growth at many research companies:

• Elrick & Lavidge
• Harris Interactive
• Market Facts
• Quick Test
• Westat

Sandy is currently involved with Phoenix Marketing International. Two of the companies listed above are in the Honomichl top twelve, while Phoenix Marketing International achieved a revenue growth of over 14% in 2004—one of the highest increases on the Honomichl top 50 list.

Sandy received his B.A. from George Washington University in 1973, a Ph.D. in Sociology from Catholic University in 1983, and an M.S.W. degree from Fordham in 2005. He is an amazing man who decided to go back to school when he was in his late 40’s to become a psychotherapist and now has his own clinical practice in Scarsdale, NY.

Sandy is one of the most giving people I have ever met. In 2001 he started City Squash, a not-for-profit after-school enrichment program based in the Bronx at Fordham University. City Squash provides motivated and talented young people from economically disadvantaged households with a nurturing and structured team environment.

Over the years Sandy has become a good friend and mentor. I am not sure I have learned more from anyone in the industry than Sandy. One of my favorite memories of Sandy is when we were playing tennis in Florida. Sandy hit a 110 mph serve that would have certainly landed me in the hospital, had it hit me in the chest.

Sandy is a natural athlete and can play any racquet sport. A few years ago, he decided to take up golf seriously, and now shoots in the high 70’s or low 80’s.

If you have had a chance to meet Sandy, I am sure you know how special a person he is. If you haven’t, and see him at a research conference, he is a person you should meet. He is that special.

He has touched many lives over the years. I hope people will post their comments so everyone can read even more about Sandy and his impact.

Thanks for everything Sandy!

This entry was posted on Friday, September 22nd, 2006 at 6:28 am and is filed under Industry Spotlights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.