‘Just Another Dick’: How one man’s missteps led to an extraordinary life

Photo: Dick Gary

PARK CITY, Utah — Dick Gary’s life has been anything but ordinary, and now he’s sharing his story in Just Another Dick: The Presumptuous Memoir of a Truly Unimportant Person. The memoir, divided into three sections, is a candid and humorous account of a man who started at the bottom, made plenty of wrong choices, and yet found an unconventional path to success.

“They say that books should have an arc, and this one certainly does. It started at a very low point and fortunately went up,” Gary said.

Gary’s memoir opens with his expulsion from college and his days tending bar in Atlantic City before he was legally old enough to drink. From there, he describes a whirlwind 16-hour engagement to a childhood sweetheart, followed by two years serving as a military police officer in post-World War II Germany. “I made all the wrong choices, but somehow, it worked out,” he said, recalling the period with humor.

Among those wrong choices was a series of odd jobs that eventually led him to a career in radio sales. “I liked it, which kind of woke me up. It was creative. I got to write commercials, and I wound up as the sales manager and then the youngest general manager of a radio station in New York. I worked hard, and I didn’t mind working hard,” Gary said.

However, Gary’s career wasn’t confined to radio. Along the way, he operated a racetrack for cars and motorcycles, dabbled in modeling, and even worked for Ed Koch during his successful bid for Congress in New York City’s silk-stocking district.

The pinnacle of his professional life came when Gary and his wife founded an advertising firm that grew into a premier agency serving the music industry. “We didn’t plan for it to happen that way, but life rarely goes according to plan,” he said.

Gary also became involved in charity work, organizing art shows that raised substantial funds for various causes. He recalls one particularly meaningful effort, which supported cancer research in honor of a young man who passed away from leukemia. “At seventeen, before he passed, he told his father, ‘Raise some money, so other people have a better shot,’” Gary said. Some of these shows raised over a million dollars.

Now residents of Park City, Gary and his wife, Elsa have become active in local politics, with the Arts Council of Park City and Summit County, and the U.S. Ski Team board. Originally drawn to the area for skiing, the couple quickly fell in love with Park City’s summers.

It was during one of those summers that Gary began writing his memoir. “People have told me that with the varied life I’ve had, I should write a book. I thought at first it would just be for my son and daughter, so they could know a little bit more about me,” he said. “I kept writing and writing. This thing was in the works for ten years, and after ten years, it should be better than it is,” he added with a laugh.

Reflecting on the book, Gary hopes readers will appreciate the humor but also see the broader message: taking risks and making unconventional choices can still lead to a fulfilling life. “Don’t be afraid to take a chance. It’s your life you’re talking about,” he said.

Gary is now focused on promoting his memoir, with plans for a series of readings, book signings, and the release of an audiobook. “I’ve lived an extraordinary life in a very unordinary way, and I’m excited to share that with people,” he said.

Just Another Dick offers a humorous yet insightful look at how Gary carved out his own path, showing that success isn’t always about following convention—sometimes it’s about making the best of the wrong choices.

Learn more about Dick Gary, upcoming signings, and his book here.