[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 177 (Thursday, November 20, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2286]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    GEORGE A. BEACH, PHILADELPHIA'S PIONEERING CREATIVE COMMUNICATOR

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                           HON. CHAKA FATTAH

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 19, 2008

  Mr. FATTAH. Madam Speaker, I invite my colleagues in the House of 
Representatives to join me in saluting George A. Beach, a pioneering 
African-American businessman in Philadelphia, who is being honored for 
a half-century of achievement in the fields of design, advertising, 
graphics and public relations.
  George Beach is founder and chairman of Beach Creative 
Communications, the nation's first and oldest African-American owned 
advertising agency--a firm whose name and motto summarize the Beach 
``brand'' for creativity and communication: ``A full service agency 
providing creative solutions for today's diverse marketplace.''
  George Beach has won numerous awards and commissions for his design 
and artistic flair, his business skills and his broad and generous 
reach into civic and charitable activities. Now he adds a new honor, as 
the African-American Chamber of Commerce in Philadelphia presents ``A 
Golden Tribute to George Beach,'' celebrating his 50 years in business, 
on Friday, November 21, 2008.
  George Albert Beach was born in Harlem, New York City, on August 14, 
1936. By the age of 10 he had moved with his family to Philadelphia, 
his adopted home town. His educational background stretches from Gratz 
High School and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia to Paris, 
where he studied at the L'Academie de la Grande Chaumiere and 
L'Alliance Francaise.
  Already an artist and designer, George Beach became a young man of 
business in 1958 when, fresh from college, he founded the Creative Art 
and Design Studio as a ground-breaking minority enterprise. In another 
pioneering step, he was the first African American elected president of 
the Artist Guild of Delaware Valley, a position he held from 1964 to 
1967. In 1970, he and two colleagues launched the fully illustrated 
African American Historical Calendar, which is marking publication of 
its 40th annual edition.
  The Studio evolved into Beach Advertising in 1974, assuming its 
present name in 2001. The Beach roster of clients and accounts has 
included Pfizer U.S. Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, the 
University of Pennsylvania, McDonald's, plus health firms, governmental 
agencies and public utilities.
  George Beach's personal artistic work was impacted by the onset of 
rheumatoid arthritis. Pain and joint destruction forced him to set 
aside painting for a quarter century. But as with everything else in 
his achieving life, this became a challenge and an opportunity. Today, 
painting once again, Mr. Beach brings his special expertise to the 
Advisory Council of the National Institute of Arthritis and 
Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NAIMS), where he serves under 
appointment by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.
  And his career as an artist flourishes. He has completed a new series 
of oil on canvas paintings that include ``Indivisible,'' a haunting 
skeleton of the World Trade Center Towers embracing an American flag 
under a full moon, which has been exhibited at the San Francisco Museum 
of Modern Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
  Now, as his varied, productive career continues beyond the half-
century mark, with wife Mary and sons Timothy and Matthew, George 
Albert Beach carries forward with his varied, productive career--always 
communicating, ever creative. He has earned the gratitude and 
admiration of Philadelphians and many beyond our city. Thank you, 
George.

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