Thomas Elrod, 80, a retired senior executive salesman for the Travel section of the Tribune, was with the newspaper for 41 years. In 1962, he won the Chesser Campbell Award, the newspaper’s top honor for a member of its sales staff.
A resident for the last 15 years of Orlando, he died Tuesday in an Orlando hospital.
Mr. Elrod, a native of Columbus, Ind., and a graduate of Indiana University, joined the Tribune in 1940. His father had been the associate editor of the Indianapolis News.
After service in the Navy during World War II as a gunnery officer, Mr. Elrod returned to the paper in the classified division, later serving in retail and sales development. In the late 1950s, he was in the paper’s Detroit advertising office, returning to Chicago in 1960.
In 1969, he was appointed senior executive salesman for Chicago and territorial travel and resort accounts. In that position, he sold ads in the Travel section throughout the Midwest. In 1974, he initiated Wisconsin banner advertising, a cooperative program for resorts and chambers of commerce in that state.
He retired in 1981.
“He made friends easily and was a friend to everyone,” his son, Tom, said.
Survivors, besides his son, include his wife, Barbara; two other sons, Ken and Rich; and two grandchildren.
Services will be Saturday in Orlando.