Lasker, Albert (Davis) (1880–1952)

German-born US advertising executive and philanthropist. A gifted copy editor, he was instrumental in shifting advertising from information to persuasion. Lasker was born in Freiburg, Germany. Raised in Texas, he joined the Chicago advertising agency, Lord and Thomas in 1898; as sole owner after 1912 he built the firm into a major agency. He dissolved the agency in 1942 (when it became Foote, Cone and Belding). Lasker devoted himself to art collecting and philanthropy and instituted the Lasker awards for medical research and public health. Following the Black Sox scandal of 1919, it was Lasker who proposed the institution of an independent commissioner of baseball.