Obituary: Arthur C. Nielsen Jr.

Arthur C. Nielsen Jr. - the son of the research company's founder Arthur C. Nielsen, and former Chairman of the business - died in Winnetka, IL on Monday, at the age of 92.

The oldest of five children, 'Art' Nielsen was born in 1919, four years prior to his father founding the family business. He later served during World War II in the US Army Corps of Engineers, attaining the rank of Major and earning the Legion of Merit Award.

After joining his father's firm in 1945, he was promoted to the position of President of A.C. Nielsen in 1957 and became its Chairman in 1975, during which time the firm grew from an operation generating less than $4m a year to one with revenues of more than $680m. The group's global research revenues now total nearly $5 billion per annum.

Nielsen retired from active leadership in 1983, but a year later, while serving as Chairman Emeritus, he helped drive the company's sale to Dun & Bradstreet for $1.3 billion. The firm was later acquired by Dutch publishing company VNU, and then sold to a consortium of private equity firms in 2006.

During his time with the business, Nielsen is credited with having transformed the company from one known for tracking sales of items in food and drug stores, to one which now measures radio, TV, mobile, online, cross-platform and magazine audiences, and employs around 34,000 staff across 100+ countries.

In a statement, the company described Nielsen Jr. as: 'an early pioneer of the global information services industry, dedicating his life to investing in innovative ideas to understand and measure consumer purchasing and viewing behavior'.

Outside work, Nielsen played competitive tennis until he was in his 80s and won the US Father-Son Doubles Championships with his father in 1946 and 1948.

He later appeared as a mystery guest on the TV show 'What's My Line' in 1964, where panelists Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf and others helped guess his line of business.

Nielsen's father died in 1980 and his wife Patricia died in 2005. He is survived by his sons Arthur Nielsen III and John Christopher Nielsen, and daughter Elizabeth Cocciarelli, as well as his brother, Philip; two sisters, Margaret Stiegele and the Rev. Barbara Nielsen; and seven grandchildren.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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