[2] At the time of its acquisition, Edward Howard was the nation's longest-established independent public relations firm and was 100 percent employee owned.

Among other duties, he edited Cleveland Trust's employee publication and promoted the sale of liberty bonds to help raise finances for World War I through propaganda posters at bank branch offices.

Previously, Edward Howard II had worked as a police and sports reporter for The Plain Dealer and had obtained a year of law school education.

With $400 in start-up capital, the support of his young wife Claire McMurray Howard, and two clients, he began a new career in the fledgling field of public relations.

In the meantime, wife Claire McMurray Howard became a prominent columnist with the Cleveland Plain Dealer, penning a column titled "Good Morning," from 1936 until 1965.

Under Bailey's direction, Edward Howard provided crisis communications consulting work to Oglebay Norton Corporation during the tragic 1975 sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior.

Well-known Edward Howard clients during the 1980s and 1990s included Rubbermaid, Progressive Insurance, Major League Baseball, Rockwell International, AT&T Wireless Services, Target Corporation, Cleveland Cavaliers, Invacare, Charter One and Revco Drug Stores.

Well-known clients of Edward Howard during this time included organizations such as Wal-Mart, Sherwin-Williams, Cedar Fair, Nokia, Leggett & Platt, The Hoover Company, Dirt Devil, Invisible Fence, Huffy, Kidde, Glimcher, AEP Ohio, the Cleveland Indians, Cliffs Natural Resources, The Step2 Company and the Greater Cleveland Partnership.