
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 25, 1994                   TAG: 9404250071
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Matt Chittum
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

N&W RAILWAY PATRIOTIC AD'S WRITER DIES

Otto Whittaker Jr., creator of the Norfolk and Western Railway patriotic advertisement "I Am The Nation," died Saturday. He was 77.

Whittaker, a Bluefield, W.Va., native, wrote the now-famous ad in 20 minutes in his basement while working as a copywriter for Houck & Co.

The short prose piece written in first person from the perspective of the entire United States reached an estimated 200 million or more readers, and has been read into the Congressional Record three times.

An arrangement of it was sung by the Purdue University Glee Club at President Eisenhower's second inauguration.

Besides working as a newspaper reporter, advertising executive and occasional guest columnist for the Roanoke Times & World-News, Whittaker also wrote three books on language and etymology, as well as a children's book, "The Tooth Fairy."

"He had a real fondness for words," according to Whittaker's son, Jeff. "He wrote up until he couldn't write anymore."

by CNB