Alfred M. Goodloe Jr., president of direct marketing services firm Direct International Inc., died Feb. 13. He was 80.
Goodloe, the former president of Alexander Hamilton Institute, a publisher of newsletters, books and educational programs designed for overseas markets, was an authority on international direct marketing. As president of Direct International, he was the longtime publisher of a newsletter on international marketing called Publisher's Multinational Direct.
He graduated cum laude from Harvard and served in Italy during World War II.
For more than 25 years, he managed international campaigns of millions of pieces annually. He was the author of the manual “Publisher's Guide to Successful Multinational Mailings” as well as “Collection of Tests Conducted by Leading Multinational Publishers.”
Goodloe was a longtime member of the Direct Marketing Association's International Council, the Direct Marketing Club of New York, the Direct Marketing Idea Exchange and a founding member of the Newsletter & Electronic Publishers Association. He was inducted into the NEPA Hall of Fame in 2004.
“Al and I met periodically for lunch, and in our usual hour I would learn more about international direct mail marketing, list selection, money transfer, publishing, promotion, customer service, sales and general all-around entrepreneurship than I think anyone else even knows. And the next time he'd teach me some more,” said Charles Prescott, vice president of international business development at the Direct Marketing Association. “[He was] always the gentleman, always focused, always good-humored, always looking for a story and an excellent companion.”
Goodloe received a Silver Award for copywriting from The Newsletter on Newsletters and won the Direct Marketing Club of New York's Silver Apple Award for 25 years of outstanding contribution to New York's DM community.
Graveside services will be held in Virginia, and a memorial at St. Bartholomew's in New York is planned. Condolences can be sent to his sister, Alice Goodloe Whipple, at 2 Hedge Row Road, Plainsboro, NJ 08536.
