Loren M. Berry*

Loren M. Berry was born in Wabash Indiana in 1888. His father died when Berry was four years old. His mother sewed and worked as a maternity nurse, among other jobs, to support her family.

At age eight, Berry prepared and sold horseradish and had newspaper and laundry routes. In high school, he was a reporter for the Wabash Plain Dealer and was sports editor and business manager for his school's monthly publication. As business manager, he gained experience selling advertising space. While selling advertisements for timetables that served interurban railroads, Berry was asked by the manager of a telephone company to sell advertising space in the company's directory.

In 1910, Berry and his wife moved to Dayton, Ohio, and on a shoestring budget, they began the Ohio Guide Company by printing timetables. He soon concentrated on a telephone directory operation that developed into a coast-to-coast enterprise and became one of the foremost telephone directory publishers in the United States.

Berry became known as Mr. Yellow Pages. He expanded his operations to Europe, where the product is called the Golden Pages. Berry supported the arts, education, and medical research.