On September 19, 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression, Dave Cass entered a world defined by scarcity, grit, and neighborly interdependence. Ninety-two years later, in 2025, his children and grandchildren live in an era of smartphones, instant deliveries, streaming everything, and work that often happens in the cloud. The distance between those two Americas could fill a library. And yet, the bridge across them is built by people like Dave Cass with steady hands, clear eyes, and a compass set to service, family, and responsibility.
When most people think of the Great Depression they think of the year 1929 and the Great Stock Market Crash in October of that year. Actually, the absolute worst year of the Great Depression was the year 1933. It was the year of 1933 when joblessness and food shortages reached their peak. It was this year, the year of 1933 that was the worst year of the Great Depression.
This tribute is not about a company, it’s about the man whose perspective shaped generations. It’s about how growing up in 1933 forged values that still guide his children in 2025, and why we’re lucky to see the present through the long, generous arc of Dave Cass’s life.
Born: September 19, 1933
Dave Cass: A marketer, a salesman, an idea machine. Curious to his core. A risk-taking entrepreneur who raised a family, and through his actions, taught them how to sell, serve, and solve.
This tribute isn’t about wrenches—it’s about imagination, persuasion, and grit. Dave Cass grew up in New York City, a boy of radio and newspapers rather than television and computer screens. Dave Cass learned to paint pictures with his mind—to let a headline crackle, to let a voice over AM airwaves set a scene, to never let his mind get lazy. That habit of vivid imagination became his lifelong edge in marketing and sales—and the compass he has handed to his children.
1933 vs 2025: Two Different Worlds Dave Has Lived Across
The economic ground underfoot
-
Unemployment: During the Great Depression, U.S. unemployment hit about 25% in 1933; real GDP had fallen roughly 29% from 1929–1933. Bank failures numbered in the thousands.
-
Banking confidence: In 1933 people did not trust banks. The money one had in a bank was not insured or guaranteed. It was very common for people to hide their money in their mattress. The 1933 Banking Act (Glass-Steagall) created FDIC deposit insurance, that began insuring deposits in 1934.
-
Life expectancy: In the early 1930s, U.S. life expectancy hovered around the late-50s to low-60s; by 2025 it rebounded to ~79½ years after pandemic declines, and CDC data show improvements continuing. - In 2025 there are over 100,000 Americans over 100 years of age and by the year 2030, there are expected to be over 300,000 Americans to be over 100 years of age. In the year 1933, Americans were lucky to live past the age of 60.
The Media Dave That Taught Dave How to Think
-
Radio & print (Dave’s youth): Around 40% of U.S. households owned a radio in 1930, rising to ~83% by 1940. New York’s tabloids and broadsheets defined daily life. -
Television (after Dave’s childhood): TV was rare in 1948 (~1% of homes) and only ~9% by 1950, but ~86–90% by 1959–1960—exploding after Dave’s formative years. He didn’t grow up on TV; he grew into it later.
-
Smartphones & broadband (his grandchildren’s era): By 2025, ~93% of U.S. adults own a smartphone; ~97% use the internet.
Then and now
-
City of newspapers: Dave’s NYC was packed with morning and evening editions, hawkers at corners, headlines that sold themselves. (NYC’s total population in 1930 stood near 6.9 million across the five boroughs.) -
City of signals: Today’s Tampa pulses with Wi-Fi and 5G; the “extra edition” is a push alert.
Dave Cass grew up in New York City, a boy of radio and newspapers rather than television. He learned to paint pictures with his mind—to let a headline crackle, to let a voice over AM airwaves set a scene, to never let his mind get lazy. That habit of vivid imagination blossomed into an extremely powerful skill and has become his lifelong edge in marketing and sales—and the compass he handed to his children.
Dave’s constant: whether radio copy or a mobile landing page, he sells with story—and he taught his children the same.
What “Toughness” Meant Then, and What Resilience Looks Like Now
1933 toughness:
-
Making rent when work vanished; stretching one chicken for three meals; queueing at banks that might not open; repairing, mending, reusing. Deflation, bank panics, and joblessness formed the weather of daily life.
2025 resilience:
-
Navigating digital risk (identity theft, scams), information overload, and 24/7 workplaces. Resilience now includes passwords, backups, emergency funds, and mental boundaries. Life expectancy is far higher, medicine is better—but attention is scarce.
Dave’s read on both worlds:
-
“In ’33, survival meant saving pennies; in ’25, it means saving focus.”
-
He taught his kids to observe like a reporter, pitch like a radio host, and follow through like a pro—old-school stamina meeting new-school tools.
The Marketer: How Dave’s Curiosity Became a Career
-
Radio schooling: Without TV to spoon-feed images, Dave learned to build pictures in the listener’s mind—tight hooks, active verbs, sound you can see. -
Newspaper discipline: Headlines must earn attention; offers must be clear; benefits before features.
-
Sales craft: “Ask better questions than anyone. Curiosity closes.” He tested ideas, tracked results, iterated—long before A/B testing had a name.
-
Entrepreneur’s risk: Dave bet on new markets – moving to Tampa, new copy, new channels—and when a bet missed, he owned it, learned, and re-pitched.
-
Legacy at home: Dave raised his children into the people Tampa trusts for the region’s best plumbing service—professionals who explain value, keep their promises, and cultivate lifelong clients.
1933 → 2025: Inventions & Inflection Points Dave Lived Through
-
1933–1935: Emergency Banking Relief & FDIC restore confidence in banks. -
1947–1950s: Transistor invented at Bell Labs; integrated circuits to follow—miniaturization that makes today’s devices possible.
-
1955: Salk polio vaccine licensed; later OPV accelerates eradication.
-
1969: ARPANET sends its first message—“LO”—the internet’s seed; Apollo 11 lands on the Moon.
-
1991–1993: The World Wide Web opens to the public; the consumer internet era begins.
-
2007–present: Smartphones become the primary computer for most people
-
2012–2020: CRISPR-Cas9 ushers in practical gene editing; Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded 2020.
-
2020–2025: COVID-19 shocks health and economy; by 2025, U.S. life expectancy recovers toward ~79.5 years.
Across all of it, Dave kept asking the same question: What does the customer really need—and how do we say it so they feel it? That curiosity is his through-line.
How Dave Shaped His Children (and Why They’re Grateful)
-
Imagination as muscle. “Don’t wait for a screen—see it yourself.” He made his kids write the headline, speak the 30-second spot, sketch the offer. -
Numbers as truth. He loves data—response rates, cost per lead, lifetime value—because numbers keep stories honest.
-
Risk with a parachute. Try the new channel, but watch the unit economics.
-
Integrity scales. Close the deal, then over-deliver. Reputation compounds faster than any ad spend.
-
Curiosity wins. Ask one more question than your competitor—the answer is often the sale.
Dave Cass Was Born into a World That is Far Different From Today
-
He remembers a time when trust was scarce and money was dear; he built habits that work in any cycle: save, test, improve, repeat.
-
He watched media shift from print to radio to TV to the internet to smartphones—and learned that human attention is the real scarce resource.
-
He models resilience without noise: show up, tell the truth, make good on the promise.
Dave Cass—marketer, salesman, innovator—didn’t just adapt to history; he translated it. He taught his children to think like journalists, sell like broadcasters, and build like entrepreneurs. In a world of infinite feeds, his is the rare feed that actually nourishes: discipline, imagination, and care for the customer.
Happy Birthday, Dave! Thank you for giving your family—and everyone who learns from you—a way to move from 1933 to 2025 with clarity, courage, and uncommon curiosity.
