The beloved past president of Photo-Lettering Inc. and co-founder of ITC, 101-year-old Ed Rondthaler, is featured in a series of television and print ads for Genworth Financial. I was half paying attention to MSNBC tonight when I heard Ed’s unmistakeable voice and looked up in time to catch the commercial. The TV spot is beautifully filmed, and offers a glimpse of Ed in his home and his little town. It shows his mailbox, too, which sports some nifty lettering.

The campaign is available on the web at http://onehundred.genworth.com/. After load, click on the book in the lower nav, adjacent to the text that reads, “The Genworth Story.” Once the virtual book opens to the index, click on the link at the bottom: “See Our Centenarian Advertising Campaign.” The pages will flip to the campaign. Click the third thumbnail in the top row to play Ed’s TV spot. His print ad is second from the left on the bottom row.

Seeing Ed on TV was really cool! Mainstream TV viewers may not know about his role in the type community and his efforts with the American Literacy Council, but it’s lovely to see him recognized as the special person he is.

Ed on Type Radio during TypeCon2005 in NYC: http://www.typeradio.org/loudblog/index.php?id=34

Ed on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=rondthaler&d=taken-20050630-20050912