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Neil Drossman, ad writer famous for his wit and wordplay, dies at 83
(JTA) — Neil Drossman, who began his career in copywriting at the tail end of the “Mad Men” era and went on to create some of the most admired tag lines and campaigns in the history of the advertising business, died Nov. 25 at age 83. The cause was cancer, family members said.
The Brooklyn-born Drossman was known for witty catchphrases that stuck with consumers, advertising products such as Meow Mix cat food, Einstein Moomjy Carpets, Airwick air freshener and Chemical Bank.
When Purina introduced Meow Mix in 1974, Drossman wrote the tag line, “The Cat Food Cats Ask For By Name.” For Emery Air Freight, an air cargo carrier, he wrote an ad featuring a photo of globe-trotting Secretary of State Henry Kissinger with the headline, “Emery flies to more places than he does.”
One of Drossman’s most memorable campaigns was for Teacher’s scotch, which featured ghost-written testimonials by various celebrity drinkers, including the Jewish entertainers Groucho Marx, Zero Mostel and Mel Brooks.
The Mel Brooks ad featured the creator of the “2,000 Year Old Man” dressed as a caveman holding a glass of scotch while sitting on a pile of boulders. “2,000 years ago when you had a scotch on the rocks, you really had a scotch on the rocks,” the headline reads.
The family still has a autograph from Brooks addressed to Drossman, reading, “You do me better than I do me.”
“Seeing his work transformed my views of what advertising could be,” the advertising executive Lee Garfinkel wrote in a tribute last month in the trade journal Ad Age. “Each headline was smart, funny, insightful, unexpected and thought-provoking. I didn’t know that advertising could be so clever and feel so fresh.”
Drossman, born on Feb. 26, 1940, grew up in Brooklyn and was a devoted Brooklyn Dodgers fan until the team decamped to Los Angeles in 1958. His father Edward started a jewelry business on Manhattan’s Canal Street. When the elder Drossman died of a heart attack in his early 60s, his widow, Anne Drossman, took over the business, which survives to this day, co-owned and operated by Neil’s wife, Ellen Drossman, and Neil’s sister, Phyllis Bulhack.
The basketball-loving Drossman attended Alfred University in upstate New York and after college got a job working at CBS News. He got his first job in the advertising business in the 1970s and worked on and off for 50 years with the legendary ad man and restaurateur Jerry Della Femina, who ran a series of agencies.
“When it came down to day-in-day-out Joe Lunchpail writing, with the kind of amazing talent that got everyone’s attention, whether he was first pounding a typewriter or later composing on a computer,” Della Famina wrote in a tribute on Facebook, “Neil Drossman was the best copywriter there ever was.”
Grossman also served as chairman and co-creative director at Needleman Drossman & Partners and was co-founder of Ryan Drossman/MARC USA.
The witty Drossman could also turn serious or sentimental when the occasion demanded it, as he did when Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey needed an image makeover. Drossman came up with the slogan, “When you feel good, we feel good.”
Other copywriters admired his ad for Goodwill Industries, which showed a man in a wheelchair fixing a TV set. The headline reads, “What you see here is a TV set repairing a man.”
He also created the slogan and logo that appears on the doors of NYPD patrol cars, reading “Courtesy, Professionalism and Respect.”
Drossman retired on Jan. 31, 2023. A New York Knicks fan, Drosssman was a regular player in a year-round weekly pickup basketball game in Greenwich Village before he was sidelined by hip surgery. The Knicks player and future coach Phil Jackson would sometimes take part in those games, and he nicknamed Drossman “the Glove” for his skills at defense.
His survivors include his wife, Ellen Drossman; his son Edward, his daughter Jill, and three grandchildren.
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Brooklyn Nets Select Israeli Basketball Players Ben Saraf, Danny Wolf in NBA Draft
The opening tip between the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards, at Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, Dec. 13, 2020. Photo: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect
In a landmark night for Israeli basketball, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf were selected in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft by the Brooklyn Nets, marking the first time two Israeli players have been drafted in the same year.
Saraf, a 19-year-old guard known for his explosive athleticism and creative playmaking, was taken with the 26th pick. A standout with Maccabi Rishon LeZion and a rising star on Israel’s youth national teams, Saraf gained international attention with his electrifying scoring and commanding court presence.
With the 27th pick, the Nets selected 7-foot center Danny Wolf out of the University of Michigan. Wolf, who holds dual US-Israeli citizenship and represented Israel at the U-20 level, brings a versatile skill set, including sharp passing, perimeter shooting, and a strong feel for the game. After his name was called, Wolf grew emotional in an on-air interview, crediting his family for helping him reach the moment.
“I have the two greatest brothers in the world; I have an unbelievable sister who I love,” Wolf said. “They all helped me get to where I am today, and they’re going to help me get to where I am going to go in this league.”
The historic double-pick adds to the growing wave of Israeli presence on the NBA stage, led by Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija, who just completed a breakout 2024–25 season. After being traded to Portland last summer, Avdija thrived as a starter, averaging 16.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.8 assists. In March alone, he posted 23.4 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game, including two triple-doubles.
“I don’t think I’ve played like this before … I knew I had it in me. But I’m not really thinking about it. I’m just playing. I’m just free,” Avdija told reporters in March
With Saraf and Wolf joining Avdija, Israel’s basketball pipeline has reached unprecedented visibility. Israeli President Isaac Herzog called the moment “a national celebration for sports and youth,” and Israeli sports commentators widely hailed the night as “historic.”
Both Saraf and Wolf are expected to suit up for the Nets’ Summer League team in July. As the two rookies begin their NBA journey, they join a growing generation of Israeli athletes proving that their game belongs on basketball’s biggest stage.
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Iran Denies Any Meeting With US Next Week, Foreign Minister Says
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a press conference following a meeting with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2025. Photo: Tatyana Makeyeva/Pool via REUTERS
Iran currently has no plan to meet with the United States, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday in an interview on state TV, contradicting US President Donald Trump’s statement that Washington planned to have talks with Iran next week.
The Iranian foreign minister said Tehran was assessing whether talks with the US were in its interest, following five previous rounds of negotiations that were cut short by Israel and the US attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The US and Israel said the strikes were meant to curb Iran’s ability to create nuclear weapons, while Iran says its nuclear program is solely geared toward civilian use.
Araqchi said the damages to nuclear sites “were not little” and that relevant authorities were figuring out the new realities of Iran’s nuclear program, which he said would inform Iran’s future diplomatic stance.
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Ireland Becomes First European Nation to Advance Ban on Trade With Israeli Settlements
A pro-Hamas demonstration in Ireland led by nationalist party Sinn Fein. Photo: Reuters/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Ireland has become the first European nation to push forward legislation banning trade with Israeli communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem — an effort officials say is meant “to address the horrifying situation” in the Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday, Irish Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Simon Harris announced that the legislation has already been approved by the government and will now move to the parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade for pre-legislative scrutiny.
“Ireland is speaking up and speaking out against the genocidal activity in Gaza,” Harris said during a press conference.
The Irish diplomat also told reporters he hopes the “real benefit” of the legislation will be to encourage other countries to follow suit, “because it is important that every country uses every lever at its disposal.”
Today Ireland becomes the first country in Europe to bring forward legislation to ban trade with the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Ireland is speaking up and speaking out against the genocidal activity in Gaza.
Every country must pull every lever at its disposal. pic.twitter.com/Z4RTjqntEY— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) June 24, 2025
Joining a growing number of EU member states aiming to curb Israel’s defensive campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, Ireland’s decision comes after a 2024 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel’s presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal.
The ICJ ruled that third countries must avoid trade or investment that supports “the illegal situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Once implemented, the law will criminalize the importation of goods from Israeli settlements into Ireland, empowering customs officials to inspect, seize, and confiscate any such shipments.
“The situation in Palestine remains a matter of deep public concern,” Harris said. “I have made it consistently clear that this government will use all levers at its disposal to address the horrifying situation on the ground and to contribute to long-term efforts to achieve a sustainable peace on the basis of the two-state solution.”
“Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory are illegal and threaten the viability of the two-state solution,” the Irish diplomat continued. “This is the longstanding position of the European Union and our international partners. Furthermore, this is the clear position under international law.”
Harris also urged the EU to comply with the ICJ’s ruling by taking a more decisive and “adequate response” regarding imports from Israeli settlements.
“This is an issue that I will continue to press at EU level, and I reiterated my call for concrete proposals from the European Commission at the Foreign Affairs Council this week,” he said.
Last week, Ireland and eight other EU member states — Finland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden — called on the European Commission to draft proposals for how EU countries can halt trade and imports with Israeli settlements, in line with obligations set out by the ICJ.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned the latest move by European countries, calling it “shameful” and a misguided attempt to undermine Israel while it faces “existential” threats from Iran and its proxies, including Hamas.
“It is regrettable that even when Israel is fighting an existential threat which is in Europe’s vital interest — there are those who can’t resist their anti-Israeli obsession,” the top Israeli diplomat said in a post on X.
It is regrettable that even when Israel fighting an existential threat which is in Europe vital interest – there are those who can’t resist their anti-Israeli obsession.
Shameful! https://t.co/lxm9qm8sM1— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) June 19, 2025
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