Richard Bruce Carroll

Richard Bruce Carroll, 69, died Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015 at his home on Hilton Head Island, S.C. A passionate sailor, entrepreneur and creative giver of experiences and friendship, Bruce is survived by his wife, Anne Shea Carroll of Hilton Head & his mother, Jean MacGillivray of Barrie, Ontario. He is also survived by his daughter, Emily Carroll (Daniel Groll) of Northfield, Minn. and a son, Andrew Graham (Tara) of Mississauga, Ontario; three step-daughters, Shea Lackie (Joshua) of Memphis, Tenn.; Curry Del Pozzo (Michael) of Rogers, Ark. and Annesley Young (Parker) of Dallas, Texas and seven grandchildren. His sister, Patricia Carroll (Barry Davenport) of Toronto, Ontario and his brother, Don Carroll (Natalia) of Prince Edward Island also survive, as does his brother-in-law, Bill Shea (Robin) of Dumas, Ark. Bruce was predeceased by his father, Patrick James Carroll; his brother-in-law, Ken Shea and his best friend and mentor, Robin Page. An entrepreneur even at the earliest stages of his career, Bruce has been recognized for over four decades as a pioneer, innovator and business leader in the marketing services industry in North America and Europe. After earning graduate degrees in history and economics from the University of Toronto, Bruce had a successful career in financial publishing with Maclean-Hunter in Toronto and Thompson in New York. Bruce later co-founded Claritas Corporation and served as its president until it was acquired by VNU in 1990. He then left North America to serve as CEO of UK–based Computerized Marketing Technologies Inc. In 1991 he returned to his native Canada as president of Blackburn Marketing Services Inc., which included Compusearch – then Canada's leading marketing services provider. During this period Bruce was part of the Blackburn team that bought an obscure company called Carfax – later to become one of the most successful consumer information companies in North America. Bruce joined Acxiom in early 2000, serving as a member of Acxiom's Corporate Leadership Team. He held several leadership positions, including Corporate Marketing Leader.  He was based in London, UK coordinating new product development for Acxiom's acquisitions in Europe, Asia and the United States until his retirement in 2005. From 2007 to the present, Bruce consulted to Toronto-based Environics Analytics. He excelled at helping teams of young people adapt traditional marketing services techniques to the digital world based on new technologies. Bruce was known for building corporate value through vision and product innovation. He is well known for the development of some of the world's leading classification systems: Prizm, Psycle, Psyte and Personicx. Other notable innovations include some of the most successful market analysis and mapping solutions: ENVISION and Market Math (Canada), Compass (United States) and StoreScan (UK). His greatest gift to the industry was his ability to move with the times and create new insightful services without abandoning proven methodologies from the past. He was the "Master of Big Data and Analytics" before the terms were even coined. An ardent sportsman, Bruce excelled at both rugby and hockey, while later, sailing and golf became the passions of his life. He and his wife, Anne, sailed their boats through Canadian waters, up and down the Eastern Seaboard to the Florida Keys and the Bahamas, joining a fraternity of boaters who made new friends in every port. A celebration of Bruce's life will be held at a later date. Contributions may be made online in the name of Richard Bruce Carroll to: The Salvation Army, Carolinas Division (www.salvationarmycarolinas.org). Bruce never passed a Red Kettle empty-handed. The Island Funeral Home and Crematory: www.theislandfuneralhome.com.