Frank A. Olson, who as Hertz’s top executive cast OJ Simpson as the star of the company’s commercials — a corporate marriage that shone on both sides and lasted two decades, until Mr. Simpson was charged with a double homicide in 1994 — died at his home in Palm Beach, Fla., on Wednesday, the same day Mr. Simpson died. Mr. Olson was 91 years old.
The cause was complications from Covid, said his sons, Christopher and Blake.
The coincidental timing of the deaths of Mr. Olson, who had plunged Hertz into years of corporate turmoil, and Mr. Simpson, the athlete-turned-athlete-turned-notorious criminal defendant, connected the two men in a way that Mr. Olson had once embraced, but later distanced from.
More than business partners, Mr. Olson and Mr. Simpson, both natives of San Francisco, formed an alliance, beginning in the 1970s, that spoke to this mutually beneficial zone where corporate and social life intertwined. Mr. Olson, an avid golfer, sponsored Mr. Simpson for membership at the private Arcola Country Club in Paramus, NJ, where in 1992 Mr. Simpson, a former Heisman Trophy winner and Pro Football Hall of Famer, became the first black member.
In a letter Mr. Simpson left at his Los Angeles home before his arrest in the stabbing murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald L. Goldman, he listed friends to whom he was sending ”love and thanks ». Mr. Olson was one of them.
“I took him to places I think very few black people have ever been,” Mr. Olson said in the acclaimed 2016 documentary “OJ: Made in America.”
Mr Simpson was 76 when he died of cancer at his home in Las Vegas.
The idea to feature him in Hertz ads to symbolize speedy service, which began in 1974, originated with the company’s advertising agency. But because Mr. Simpson was black and most of Hertz’s customers were white businessmen, the choice made the agency nervous, according to a 1994 article in the Washington Post. So the decision was given to Mr. Olson, who was then executive vice president and general manager of the rental car division. (The company also rented trucks.)
Mr. Olson approved. The ads, featuring Mr. Simpson running through airports on his way to a rental car, were a big hit. Hertz claimed the campaign boosted sales in its fierce competition with Avis and other competitors.
Mr. Olson continued to personally negotiate Mr. Simpson’s contracts, which extended to personal appearances. The two played foursomes of golf with major Hertz clients, and during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Mr. Simpson and his wife threw a lavish party for Hertz executives at their estate in the Brentwood neighborhood.
In 1989, Mr. Simpson contacted Mr. Olson after he was accused of assaulting his wife on New Year’s Day. Police had found Ms Simpson hiding in the bushes outside her home, badly beaten.
On the phone, Mr. Olson said years later, Mr. Simpson downplayed the incident. After Mr. Simpson’s no contest plea to the battery charges generated little publicity, Hertz retained him as its celebrity player.
“We consider it a private matter” between the Simpsons, a Hertz spokesperson said at the time.
Five years later, on the night Ms. Simpson and Mr. Goldman were murdered outside her condominium, Mr. Simpson was scheduled to travel to Chicago to play golf with Hertz executives and customers. He was arrested several days later.
The company quickly announced that it had fired him. Nor did the relationship rekindle after his acquittal in a criminal trial that riveted the country and exposed black and white Americans’ polarized views of the criminal justice system.
Later, when Mr. Simpson was found liable in a lawsuit and ordered to pay the victims’ families $33.5 million, Mr. Olson was a witness. He testified that when Mr. Simpson called him in 1989 about his arrest on battery charges, Mr. Simpson lied about the seriousness of the assault.
“Had I had any idea at the time that this was the case, OJ Simpson would never have worked another day for Hertz,” Mr. Olson testified, according to the Associated Press.
Frank Olson was born Frank Albert Johnson on July 19, 1932 in San Francisco to Fred and Edith Mary (Hazeldine) Johnson. His mother, an immigrant from England who worked as a stenographer, had a series of husbands, including Alfred Olson, a railroad conductor, who adopted Frank.
In addition to his sons, Mr. Olson is survived by his wife, Sarah Olson, whom he married in 1957. a daughter, Kim Olson; and seven grandchildren.
Mr. Olson began his career in the car rental business at the age of 18 as a night manager at San Francisco International Airport.
After graduating from City College of San Francisco, he started his own car rental business. He sold it to Hertz in 1964 and joined the company’s ranks.
He quickly climbed the corporate escalator: He was put in charge of Hertz’s operations in California and Arizona. moved east to head the New York division in 1967. Appointed Eastern Region Vice President two years later. and became general manager of all Hertz car rental operations in the US in 1970.
In 1974, he joined the board of directors of Hertz, then owned by RCA Corporation. In 1977 he was appointed CEO of Hertz. In 1980 he became president.
When Hertz was sold in 1985 to UAL Inc., parent of United Airlines, Mr. Olson became a member of UAL’s board of directors. He later became chairman of the company – then renamed Allegis – and presided over a tumultuous period in 1987, fighting off an attempt by United pilots to take over the company.
That year, Ford Motor Company paid $1.2 billion for Hertz. Mr. Olson remained as chairman. He retired as CEO in 1999 but retained the title of non-executive chairman.
His sons said he never spoke to or about Mr. Simpson after the court cases involving the 1994 murders.
Kirsten Noyes contributed to the research.
