Howard Feiertag remembers the days in the early 1970s when a group of meeting planners were contemplating forming an association to support industry professionals. One of those in the middle of the discussions was Robert “Bob” Green, who was a meeting planner at Ralston Purina in St. Louis.
“I was in sales for a Holiday Inn management company and attended a meeting that was in discussion about getting meeting planners together to discuss issues,” Feiertag recalls. “They were going to organize a club of meeting planners only. Since I was not a planner, but a sales guy, I would not have been invited. After bitching about it over the next couple of years, Bob was very supportive of me being involved.”
Feiertag was reminiscing about his nearly 50-year friendship with Green—instrumental in founding the organization that would become Meeting Professionals International—who passed away March 16, 2019, at Laclede Groves Retirement Center in Webster Groves, Mo., after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 92.
Green was not only instrumental in forming MPI, but would remain engaged at both the global and chapter levels. He was a past chair of the MPI Board of Directors, served as interim CEO and president from July through October 1990 and edited two books: MPI, A 20 Year Review and a comprehensive glossary of international meeting industry terms. He also founded the MPI St. Louis Area Chapter.
Beverly Kinkade, a retired former meeting industry professional, says Green had been the recipient of such honors as International Planner of the Year in 1980, the President’s Award in 1990 and Chapter of the Year during his tenure as president of the St Louis Area Chapter.
She and Kitty Ratcliffe, president of Explore St. Louis, were able to spend time with Green recently.
“He was a very humble person and didn’t want any fuss,” she says. “He needs to be properly recognized not only by his beloved chapter, but by the organization he helped found.”
Ratcliffe, a former chair of the MPI IBOD and an International Supplier of the Year recipient, says that Green was a “giant in our industry. From leading the corporate meetings team at Ralston Purina to forming a new organization called Meeting Planners International for meeting planners in the corporate space to serving as interim CEO of MPI when it was necessary, Bob always stepped up and took charge when leadership was needed.
“But most of all Bob was so very human. There wasn’t a person who met him who wasn’t taken in by his self-deprecating humor, his warmth and his grace. We have all greatly benefitted from his presence in our industry, in MPI and in St. Louis. To say that he will be missed is an understatement.”
According to his obituary, Green was born in Davenport, Iowa. He and fraternal twin Richard were the youngest of six children. He attended high school in St. Louis and worked part-time jobs including with the St. Louis Cardinals before being drafted into the U.S. Army.
After leaving the military, he graduated from Grinnell (IA) College and returned to work with the Cardinals, where he was promoted to business manager for the team’s Pocatello, Idaho, minor league affiliate. After five years, he joined Ralston Purina and remained for 38 years, retiring in 1988 as director of meeting planning and corporate travel.
His obituary said that those who knew him would describe him as “reserved, kind, smart and hard-working, with a cheerful humor and a deep sense of integrity instilled in him at a young age by his family and religious upbringing.” He also had “an uncanny ability to put people at ease in almost any situation and always considered the needs of others before his own.”
“Our MPI Community lost an inspiring leader in Bob Green this week,” says Steve O’Malley, chair of the MPI International Board of Directors. “He and a very small group of industry visionaries had the foresight to lay the foundation of MPI over 40 years ago. I and so many others owe Bob so much for building this platform into something that now serves the entire meetings and events industry and has benefited the careers of hundreds of thousands.”
Paul Van Deventer, president and CEO of MPI, adds: “Through the vision and passion of Bob Green and a small, dedicated group of fellow meeting professionals, 48 years ago the concept for Meeting Professionals International was conceived. An association that would grow to become the career home and inspiration to tens of thousands of industry professionals and leaders. Thank you for your leadership Bob; part of your lasting legacy will be the thousands who have been positively impacted by belonging to MPI.”
Feiertag also remembers that Green would later send business his way.
“Over the years we became great friends,” Feiertag says. “In 1974, when we built Frenchman’s Reef Hotel in St Thomas, I was finally able to book Bob’s Ralston Purina group at the new resort property.”
Nancy Morrell-Swanson, a former chair of the MPI Foundation Global Board of Trustees, a past International Supplier of the Year and recipient of the Chair’s Award, remembers Green from her early days as an MPI member.
“At one of the meetings Bob Green stopped to talk with me, I mean THE Bob Green,” she says. “I was thrilled. There may not have ever been a nicer person in our industry than Bob Green. He will be so missed.”
Jonathan T. Howe, MPI’s legal counsel and a longtime friend of Green, says: “Bob was a very tactful and respectful person. He was a very strong person and had the ability to get things done. He was a mentor to many people; he was always there to help whether on a personal issue or professional advice. He was good listener. Bob was one of those guys who was always there for you.”
Green is also remembered for supporting his wife of 63 years, Georgia, in her battle with Parkinson’s Disease. He is survived by his wife, one son and his wife, two grandsons and two great-grandchildren.
Donations can be made to the MPI St. Louis Robert C. Green Scholarship, which was established by the MPI St. Louis Area Chapter in his honor years ago, and sent to:
MPI St. Louis Area Chapter
2650 S. Hanley Rd., Ste. 100
St. Louis, MO 63144
Phone: (314) 416-2234
Fax: (314) 845-1891
Email: mpistlouis@qabs.com
