Albert P. Stauderman, Jr.
December 14, 1936 – February 1, 2022
Albert Philip Stauderman, Jr. died on February 1, 2022 at the Silverado Memory Care Community in Alexandria, Virginia, after a long illness. Al was born in 1936 in Teaneck, New Jersey to Albert, Sr. and Martha “Dodd” (Williamson) Stauderman. A child actor in the early days of television, “Little Albie” had roles in the “Mama” TV series and on Kraft Television Theatre, which was broadcast live from Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, currently the home of Saturday Night Live.
He was a proud Syracuse University ROTC graduate and president of his Delta Upsilon fraternity. As a faithful alumnus, Al served on the board of the Dikaia Foundation, which provides scholarships to DU members at Syracuse, and on the Syracuse Athletics Committee. He was also a founder of the Newhouse Alumni Association and worked to establish the Stephen Crane Lecture at Syracuse to honor one of Syracuse’s most distinguished students.
After college, Al was posted in 1959 to Orleans, France as a Second Lieutenant with the Army Security Agency, the U.S. Army’s signals intelligence branch that operated from 1945 to 1976. Following his active duty service, he transitioned to the Army Reserves and was honorably discharged at the rank of Captain.
After the Army, Al embarked on a 50-year career as an advertising production executive. As a manager of the Commercial Production Unit at Procter & Gamble from 1964 to 1982, he served as the company’s liaison to the advertising agencies and film production companies that created television ads for P&G’s many consumer products. In that role, he wrangled Josephine the Plumber (Comet), Mr. Whipple (Charmin), and countless toddlers in Pampers commercials.
In 1982, he moved from Cincinnati, Ohio to Wilton, Connecticut to establish a commercial production office at Richardson Vicks, and in 1985 he co-founded Bird Bonette Stauderman, in Westport, Connecticut, which provides advertising production consulting, talent payment services, and advertising cost containment services to corporate clients around the world. He pioneered the cost plus fixed fee model for advertising services, promoting transparency in advertising production costs on behalf of corporate clients, and was a frequently quoted expert in this area.
Al was also a man of faith, and he served in many roles as a lay leader in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, following in the footsteps of his father, Albert Sr., a minister and the editor of The Lutheran magazine, and his grandfather, Edward, who at one time was the longest serving active Lutheran minister in the United States with a career that spanned seven decades. Al served as council president for two congregations and advised both the Ohio Synod and the national church organization on media matters.
Al loved the water, and when he wasn’t sailing his beloved Catalina 22, Blew Bayou, he could be found at Sprite Island Yacht Club in Norwalk, Connecticut monitoring Flying Scott races from the race committee boat, or in harbors dotting the Connecticut shoreline conducting boat safety checks with the in Saugatuck River Power Squadron. His love of water extended beyond recreation: he was a long-time member of the Wilton Water Commission, as well as the town’s Inland Wetlands Commission.
Al also loved English sports cars – the ornerier, the better – and with his wife Helen as patient navigator, participated in road rallies in France and in the U.S. He loved jazz: the soundtrack of his life featured Dave Brubeck’s Time Out, and the Modern Jazz Quartet’s Fontessa in heavy rotation. Tennis was also a lifetime pursuit, and he was known – and feared by his opponents – for his ferocious first service. Over the years, he perfected the dry Manhattan – always with blended whiskey, never rye.
In his later years, Al devoted a great amount of time and effort to locate and uncover the lost burial places of enslaved Black people who lived in Wilton during the early Colonial Era. By searching historical records, consulting with state agencies, and tramping around in local woods and overgrown fields, he identified long forgotten burial sites and brought them to the attention of town officials. He was able to bring recognition and honor to individuals whom time had left behind, and bring to the public consciousness a cruel and oppressive chapter in Connecticut history that had long been ignored.
Al is survived by Helen, his loving wife of 63 years; his children, of whom he was inordinately proud: Elizabeth of Rochester, New York; Sarah (Andrew Robb) of Washington, DC; and Ted (Julia Noonan) of Rockville, Maryland; two cherished grandchildren, Frederic and Katherine; his younger sister Susan Stauderman Deckhart of Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania; and many cousins, nieces, and nephews. He will be remembered by countless friends and business associates as a thoughtful, ethical, funny, and kind man.
Tribute by Elizabeth Stauderman