Just because he’s retired, doesn’t mean Duke Zimmerman has slowed down one bit! Whether he’s volunteering at The Associated, writing a book or traveling the world, Duke is always on the go. Here are a few things to know about Duke!
His family was in the poster business for four generations, and he is writing a coffee table book about the family and their posters with his daughter Lori Gale.
“My grandfather, Norman I. Shapiro, started a small printing business in his basement with a little printing press in 1914. He was one of seven brothers. In the late 1920s and early ‘30s, they expanded to seven cities. They printed posters for circuses, carnivals, movies, vaudeville, racing, burlesque and more. We are creating a colorful coffee table book with these images and stories. And there are wacky stories!
Martin Luther King Jr. once worked in the family business.
When Martin Luther King, Jr. was putting himself through Morehouse College he worked at Southern Poster Printing, one of the family’s businesses located in Atlanta. King folded paper, wrapped packages and ran errands. Later, when King began organizing marches, he asked the family business to print posters. “We found a telegram from MLK to my Uncle Bernie inviting him to a dinner with Sammy Davis Jr. to organize one of those marches.
