John Portwood Blair was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1899. He graduated from the University
of Wisconsin-Madison. Blair started in the advertising department of the newspaper Chicago American and eventually moved to J. Walter Thompson, one
of Chicago's leading advertising companies. In 1933 Blair co-founded the partnership of
Greig, Blair & Spight to provide radio stations with exclusive sales representation.
Blair acquired the majority interest in the firm in 1935 and renamed it John Blair &
Company. In 1947, the company set up one of the first profit-sharing programs in the country
and in 1965, the company went public. In 1966, Blair resigned as chairman of the board and
retired his seat on the board in 1977. John Blair died in 1983.
