[Deathwatch] Frederic J. Gaynor, child model for Daisy air rifle, 74

[Deathwatch Central]

Frederic J. Gaynor dies at 74; 
child model for Daisy air rifle

The rosy-cheeked young Gaynor appeared in print ads starting in 1947.
Daisy Outdoor Products still uses the image in its logo. He later
became a Foreign Service officer.

By Joe Holley

April 6, 2009

As a youngster, Frederic J. Gaynor was the rosy-cheeked boy in
rolled-up jeans cradling the popular Daisy air rifle. His all-American
image in advertisements on the back covers of Boys' Life magazine,
comic books and other publications helped make the rifle a staple on
the Christmas lists of countless baby boomers in the 1950s.

Gaynor, who became a Foreign Service officer, died of cancer March 29
at his home in Sarasota, Fla. He was 74.

Frederic John Gaynor was born in Chicago in 1935. When he was 3, a
family friend who was a freelance photographer took a picture of him
holding a football, titled it "Aspirations" and entered it in a 1938
contest sponsored by Kodak in Britain.

The photo won the first prize of 1,000 pounds and launched the
youngster's modeling career.

Gaynor's parents registered their son with the Chicago-based Models
Bureau, and as he grew into a rosy-cheeked boy with a winning smile, he
began to appear in ads for Coca-Cola, Borden's Milk (with Elsie the
cow), 7UP and several hundred other clients.

"He was a cute little boy who did what he was told, so he got a lot of
calls," his wife, Susan Brooks Gaynor, said.

The Daisy ad was created in 1947 for the cover of the company's annual
report.

Gaynor's all-American image was so well received that Daisy began using
it to illustrate its "American Boys Bill of Rights" (including "the
right to learn to shoot safely").

In a 2006 letter to Daisy Outdoor Products, the 127-year-old company
now based in Rogers, Ark., Gaynor recalled taking time off from school
to do the photo shoot.

"I remember doing three or four different poses," he wrote.
"Incidentally, the wristwatch on my left hand was my father's watch. My
wife wears that watch today. The shirt was a hand-me-down from my older
brother. The short-sleeved sweater and jeans were mine. My hair was not
really that curly."

At the end of the shoot, the producer offered young Gaynor a Daisy air
rifle, which he desperately wanted, but his mother said no.

Gaynor's modeling career ended as he moved into adolescence.

He went on to Beloit College in Wisconsin, where he received his
undergraduate degree in theater and government in 1957.

After serving in the Army in France, he joined the Foreign Service.

He served with the United States Information Agency in 10 African
countries and then in Vietnam with the U.S. and Foreign Commercial
Service, an agency of the Commerce Department.

He retired from federal service in 1999 and moved from Virginia to
Florida in 2007.

Gaynor's first marriage, to Annick Lansonneur Gaynor, ended in divorce.


Survivors include his wife of 29 years; a son from his first marriage,
Christophe Gaynor of Petersburg, Va.; and a daughter from his second
marriage, Antonia Gaynor of London.

"He loved being overseas, particularly in the Third World, because he
felt like he could be useful," Gaynor's wife recalled. "He was very
social, very debonair, spoke impeccable French. He was the essence of
joie de vivre."

He was unaware until a few years ago that the "Daisy boy" had become an
American icon as memorable as the rifle itself.

Daisy Outdoor Products still uses the image of the young Gaynor in its
logo.

Many thanks to Deathwatch Central for posting this obituary