Joseph Segel was the founder of over 20 American companies, most notably QVC, an American television network, and the Franklin Mint, a producer of mail-order collectibles.
13 Facts About Joseph Segel
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Joseph Segel was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Electronic Retailing Association and an honorary doctorate from Drexel University.
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Joseph Segel was one of only 10 people who was on both of these lists.
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Joseph Segel retired as chairman of Franklin Mint Corporation in 1973.
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Joseph Segel founded the National Software Testing Laboratories aka NSTL in 1983.
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In 1971, Joseph Segel was elected chairman of the Board of Governors of the United Nations Association of the USA.
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Joseph Segel organized a national campaign of the Advertising Council to improve public understanding of the United Nations, chaired a national conference on the United Nations for the American Society of Newspapers Editors and testified in support of the United Nations before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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In 1986, Joseph Segel decided to start QVC after watching a videotape of the Home Shopping Network.
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Joseph Segel raised over $20 million in capital, including support from Ralph Roberts, the founder and chairperson of Comcast.
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Joseph Segel demanded that the presenters sell by informing, not pressuring the viewers about the product.
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Joseph Segel forbid the hard sell and, unlike the Home Shopping Network, established that customers could purchase at any time, with no last minute price cuts, and no high pressure tactics.
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Joseph Segel retired from QVC in 1993 upon Diller's hire, but remained involved in the network until 2013 in an advisory role.
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Joseph Segel died on December 21,2019, at the age of 88 in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, from congestive heart failure.