Erma Perham Proetz

Who was Erma Perham Proetz?

Erma Perham Proetz was an American advertising executive and the first woman inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame, in 1952.

A copywriter, she did most of her noted work at St. Louis, Missouri firm Gardner Advertising Company. There, her work for PET evaporated milk was instrumental. She created a PET milk test kitchen and developed recipes. Under the pseudonym Mary Lee Taylor, Proetz wrote articles and made radio broadcasts sharing her ideas with consumers. The show ran for 20 years and was aired on 200 stations at its height. In 1935 Fortune named her as one of the 16 outstanding women in American business.

She married noted physician Arthur W. Proetz in 1918. The Erma Proetz Memorial Scholarship at Washington University School of Fine Arts is named in her honor.