Peter Andrew Georgescu (born Petre Georgescu[1] on March 9, 1939, in Bucharest) is a Romanian-American business executive, author, and the chairman emeritus of Young & Rubicam.
While Valeriu Georgescu and his wife were in the United States, his two sons, Petre and Constantin, were arrested together with their grandparents. Their maternal grandfather, Sever Bocu [ro], was taken to the Sighet Prison while the two boys and their grandmother were taken to a forced labor camp in eastern Romania. Due to his known history, Valeriu had been asked to spy for the Soviet Union to keep his sons safe in Romania.[4] Declining the offer, Valeriu turned towards the press at the advice of the U.S. Government and obtained the intervention of Congresswoman Frances Payne Bolton of Ohio and President Dwight Eisenhower.[5][6] With pressure from Eisenhower, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej agreed to release Georgescu's sons and mother-in-law,[7] and a prisoner exchange for some Soviet spies was negotiated by CIA agent Frank Wisner.[3]
In 1954, Peter arrived in America with his brother and grandmother.[5][6] Also in 1954, shortly following the boys' release and safe arrival in the United States, they appeared on the Today Show with Dave Garroway in an interview.[8]
Georgescu became chairman and CEO of Young & Rubicam in 1994 and served in those positions until 2000.[10][11] As chairman he began to streamline the company's operations. In 1995 Y&R began an acquisition push increasing ownership in advertising agencies and public relations firms across Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.[12]
Georgescu is the author of the books The Constant Choice: An Everyday Journey From Evil Towards Good[13] and The Source of Success[14][15] and he wrote the foreword for "Eisenhower on Leadership: Ike's Enduring Lessons in Total Victory Management".[16][17][18] He was interviewed on The Constant Choice by Leonard Lopate on the Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC, the NPR affiliate in New York City.[19] He was elected to the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame in 2011.[20][21]
An opinion piece Georgescu penned in the Sunday Review section of The New York Times, on financial disparity, titled, "Capitalists, Arise: We Need to Deal with Income Inequality", in which he argues that monetary disparity in the U.S. has to be addressed as the situation otherwise would lead to unbearable taxes or social tempest, engendered over one thousand comments on the newspaper's Facebook page.[22][23]
^"Martha Stewart Biography and Interview". Awards Council member Martha Stewart presents the American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award to Peter Georgescu, chairman of Young & Rubicam, during the 1997 "Salute to Excellence" program in Baltimore, MD.
