The Direct Marketing Educational Foundation announced it will honor Lee Epstein, founder of the nonprofit Direct Marketers Gateway Inc., with its Lifetime Achievement Award.
The award recognizes an individual for outstanding contributions to direct marketing education over the span of a career. It will be presented at DMEF’s Annual New York Awards Dinner on June 20 in New York during the Direct Marketing Association’s 2006 DM Days New York Conference & Expo.
Epstein has been a loyal supporter of DMEF educational programs for more than two decades. DMG Inc. (formerly Direct Marketing Day Foundation), awards grants to colleges and universities through their marketing professors for student scholarships, teaching resources and career forums, among other programs. In 2005, DMG aligned with DMEF, and the Lee Epstein Fund was created as a DMEF Endowment Trust.
Epstein was a founder and chairman of the nonprofit Direct Marketing Days in New York (DMDNY) until it was sold to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) in 2003. From 1980 onward, DMDNY, sparked by his personal interest in students and their educational needs, contributed more then $3 million to regional colleges and universities. The goal was to teach marketing professors about direct marketing as a profitable means of distribution and sales, and then to grant scholarships to students. During this time he was president and founder of MAILMEN Inc., a Long Island, NY-based volume lettershop.
