By Edward Moore

The Boise advertising community lost one of its pioneers recently with the passing of John Givens. I did not know John personally but did have the pleasure of working with his son, Dan, in my early career in television ad sales. Dan has always carried himself with a certain confidence and je ne sais quoi; and after reading John’s obituary it is easy to understand why.

John was an ad man and the founder, with Ken Davies, of Givens-Davies Advertising.

One of the greatest things about Boise and Idaho is how, if you spend just a little bit of time in the community, you can find yourself connected to one of its pioneers. Who knew that back in 1994, as Dan was “handing over the keys” to his account list at TCI Cablevision to pursue a very successful real estate career, that 15 years later I would be taking the helm of the third iteration of the agency that Dan’s father founded in 1952. It also pleases me to read that John attended the University of Idaho and that he and I, as well as six other DaviesMoore family members, walked the same paths of that beautiful campus.

As I read about John, I am inspired to continue his legacy and I hope and pray that DaviesMoore and the work we do for our clients would make him proud. Thank you John for setting a standard of excellence in advertising, community service and zest for life.