Foster Gallagher

Although he passed away in late January, word of Dick Hodgson's death caught a number of attendees at the May Catalog Conference in Chicago by surprise. I heard about it right away, but I hadn't joined Catalog Success yet. So I felt it appropriate to set aside this month's column to finally give this catalog legend the industry recognition he deserves. Not many who knew him realized that Richard Sargeant Hodgson, who spent the last three years of his life battling myelodysplasia, a rare bone marrow disorder affecting blood cell production, got his start in direct marketing by operating his own lettershop and

I'm writing this, my first column for Catalog Success, on a train from New York to Philadelphia, a day before formally joining the magazine. Although I'll focus my future Editor's Takes solely on the catalog business, please bear with me this go-round as I reintroduce myself to you all. I started covering the catalog business as a journalist back in 1986. Over the years, I reported on various goings-on in the field, such as the mainstream use of 800 numbers, credit cards, and express delivery; the advent of co-op databases; the rise of Williams-Sonoma, CDW and The Sharper Image; the stunning collapse of

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