Richard and Shirley McGinnis Fund for Advertising Excellence

Richard and Shirley McGinnis

This fund was established in 1997 by Richard and Shirley McGinnis to provide resources for the Department of Advertising in the College of Journalism and Communications to maintain high standards of performance beyond what state resources permit.

Richard earned a bachelor’s in advertising from the University of Florida in 1958. He is married to Shirley McGinnis, and the couple lived from 1956 to 1958 in Flavet 3, which was married student housing at UF. During the time they lived there, two children were born: Douglas in 1955 and Cynthia in 1958, just before Richard graduated.

While he was a student, Richard worked for UF’s sports publicity department. After graduating, he worked in the advertising field in Atlanta with Turner Advertising and Turner Communications for 21 years. He retired from Turner in 1983 and ran a small advertising agency for five years before retiring.

Richard and Shirley were benefactors to UF’s Department of Advertising for many years.