J. Liener Temerlin, an icon of the Texas ad industry, died in his Austin home yesterday at the age of 88, surrounded by family.
Temerlin served as president of Dallas agency Glenn, Bozell & Jacobs for over 25 years, beginning in 1974, and his legacy of leadership lives on in the agency’s current name: Temerlin McClain (TM) Advertising. During his tenure, the agency grew to a team of over 600, with clients including Bank of America, American Airlines, Subaru, J.C. Penney, Long John Silver’s, Nationwide Insurance and Hyatt Hotels. After retiring as president in 2001, he served as chairman emeritus of TM Advertising. Southern Methodist University established the Temerlin Advertising Institute for Education and Research that same year, in honor of Temerlin’s contribution to the Dallas advertising industry. The American Advertising Federation inducted him into the Advertising Hall of Fame three years later.
He first entered the advertising sphere when he took a job with New York advertising trade publication Sponsor Magazine. After a stint as a first lieutenant and communications officer in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, he and his wife, Karla, moved to Dallas, where he took a job as a copywriter with Glenn Advertising in 1953.
Temerlin also served as a board member with the American Film Institute (AFI) for ten years, developing the “100 Years, 100 Movies” concept in celebration of American film’s centennial. He later founded the AFI Dallas International Film Festival and was chairman emeritus of the Dallas Film Society. Other organizations he served included the Vogel Alcove Child Care Center for the Homeless, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the East/West Institute, the Library of Congress and Southern Methodist University. His philanthropic contributions were recognized with the Dallas chapter of the American Jewish Committee’s Human Relations Award and the Linz Award, “the Dallas area’s highest form of recognition of individuals whose civic or humanitarian efforts over the last decade or more have bestowed the greatest benefit to our city.”