Edward H. Meyer

Edward Henry Meyer (January 8, 1927 – April 11, 2023) was an American advertising executive who was CEO and chairman of Grey Global Group from 1970 until his retirement in 2006 following the firm's sale to WPP in 2005 for $1.5 billion.

Early life Edward Meyer was born in New York City on January 8, 1927, and grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He graduated from the Horace Mann School, then enrolled at Cornell University. After a 2-year interruption to join the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II, he graduated from Cornell with a degree in economics in 1949.

Grey Advertising Meyer joined Grey Advertising as an account executive in 1956, when the company's revenues were $34 million. He was named president in 1968 and became CEO and chairman in 1970.

Due to his influential tenure at the firm, the New York Times and the Washington Post called Meyer "the Rupert Murdoch or Sumner Redstone of Madison Avenue".

Philanthropy Meyer and his wife Sandy were large benefactors to Cornell University, his alma mater. The couple bestowed $75 million to Weill Cornell Medicine for the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center.