In 1981, with nine of us working together for the Lowe Runkle Company’s Arlington office, we had two accounts—one being the DFW McDonald’s Co-op. We wanted to start our own company and our first calls were to Jeff Phillips and Larry Ingram, the Regional Corporate Vice-President—today one of our top Owner/Operators. Jeff and Larry championed the idea of us going out on our own and asking McDonald’s to be our first client. With their support, we met with the DFW Co-op and with a unanimous vote, won the account.
The rest is history—one in which Jeff played a key role in our growth, as well as McDonald’s.
For starters, he had a keen marketing mind himself and he constantly challenged us and forced us to up our own marketing game. As he gained national influence at McDonald’s, Jeff promoted the Moroch brand—even with other Co-ops around the country. And he constantly encouraged us to think bigger and seek out innovative ideas.
It’s no exaggeration to say we are the agency we are today because of Jeff.
As you may’ve guessed, he made a significant impact on McDonald’s too—receiving many awards and recognition over his 42-year career there. In 2009, he and his wife Sandy were honored with McDonald’s prestigious Ronald McDonald Award for “outstanding contributions to the development of McDonald’s image in advertising, promotion and public relations.” Today, Jeff’s wife and children own a total of 23 McDonald’s restaurants in North Texas.
Jeff also worked tirelessly to leverage McDonald’s as a way to help North Texas children in need. In 1981, he helped launch the first Ronald McDonald House in Texas—a temporary home-away-from-home for families of children receiving serious medical care. Since then, the Dallas Ronald McDonald House has served has served over 35,000 families.
But even that was not enough for Jeff’s big heart.
He believed that McDonald’s could help other local charities improve the health and well-being of area kids, too. And in 1988, he helped create another charitable entity to fund and make grants for medical care, education, arts, and social and civic initiatives. The entity is now known as
Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater North Texas. Since 1988, they’ve raised over $10 million for worthy causes. North Texas is a better place because of it.
Our condolences go out to his family—especially his wife Sandy, son Gregory, daughters Rhonda Ringler and Rochelle Ringler-Hernandez, grandsons, Landon and Logan and brother Judson Phillips.
For those interested in donations, they may be made in Jeff’s name to Ronald McDonald House in Dallas or Ft. Worth, Temple Emanu-El on 8500 Hillcrest Rd., Dallas, TX, 75225, or the charity of your choice.
Some of us were lucky enough to know Jeff personally. But all Morochians are all better off for Jeff’s quiet influence on our agency.
We’ll miss him.