Philip Kives was born on February 12, 1929, and died on April 27, 2016.
He was a Canadian business executive and innovative marketer.
Philip was popular for founding K-tel, which was famous for its “As seen on TV” marketing strategies.
When high school ended, Kives gravitated into itinerant salesmanship in Winnipeg and at fairs, hawking gadgets on the boardwalks of Atlantic City with his brother, Theodore.
In 1962, he went back to Winnipeg to create K-tel International Inc and used it to sell novelty consumer wares such as the Veg-O-Matic food slicer and the Miracle Brush lint gathered.
And, in 1965 the “greatest hits” line of records was added.
The K-tel company soon grow to serve 34 national markets, and after a very successful 1970s, the company heavily invested in real estate, oil and gas exploration, films and video games in the early 80’s.
Nonetheless, it led to a whopping loss of $60 million in 1984 and the company eventually filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection only to be rescued out of hard times by new CEO Mickey Elfenbein that same year.
Philip Kives passed away at 87 yrs old.