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Mind over Matter
Brain tumor doesn't daunt CMG president

Darci Ross taps her brain every day as president of CMG Worldwide. Based in Indianapolis, CMG is one of the world's top sports and entertainment licensing firms, and also represents the families and estates of deceased celebrities.

But the dynamic 34-year-old executive has more on her mind than marketing legends such as Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Sophia Loren, Ivana Trump and Babe Ruth. Ross has lived with a brain tumor for 13 years.

The Bridgeport, Ill., native's symptoms first appeared in 1986, when she was a 20-year-old marketing major attending Indiana University. Her roommates rushed her to the hospital when she suffered what turned out to be her first grand mal seizure. Because of a neurologist's misdiagnosis, Ross spent a year being treated for a stroke. Although she was medicated heavily, the positive-thinker continued her studies while working part-time for Bloomington attorney David Colman.

A year passed before new CAT scans showed that the lesion on her brain was getting larger instead of going away. That's when the doctor realized it wasn't a stroke. "It was a tumor," Ross says, "and he wanted me to have surgery, in spite of the fact that I would lose my speech and all my motor skills."

With three months to go before her May 1987 graduation, she refused to have the surgery. Backed by her understandably distraught parents, Roy and Joyce Dillard, she sought a second opinion and was referred to Dr. Robert M. Pascuzzi, professor of neurology at the I.U. School of Medicine.

"He did all the tests and then said, ‘You've got a tumor that might affect you in five months or it might affect you in 20 years'," she recalls. That amounted to good news to Ross, who just had landed her first job as a governmental affairs manager for USX Corp. in Birmingham, Ala. While there, Ross suffered more seizures, during which she forgot words or couldn't speak.

A biopsy at the University of Alabama confirmed that the tumor was a benign glioma — a grade I, the smallest on a scale of I to IV. "They said it's slow-growing and it's benign. So let's just wait," she decided. (Her tumor is located in the parietal-occipital area of her brain, and surgical techniques hadn't yet been honed to safely remove tumors in that area.)

Not one to let a brain tumor get in her way, the vivacious former high school cheerleader went to New York City to visit friend Scott Ross, music manager of Maven Management and a Munster (Ind.) native. While Scott and Darci's friendship blossomed into a romance, her career also bloomed when she went to work for Scott's friend, Paul SerVaas.

Through Paul, she met his brother-in-law Mark Roesler, who administered the Saturday Evening Post's copyrights on the more than 300 Post covers painted by Norman Rockwell.

Roesler formed Curtis Management Group in 1981 to protect and promote the names and images of other deceased artists and entertainers. Through his expertise, the company added the estates of such deceased celebrities as Elvis Presley, James Dean and Babe Ruth to its client list.

Darci Dillard joined Roesler in 1987 when the company still was called Curtis Management Group. Roesler later bought out his original partners and changed the company's name to CMG Worldwide.

Darci Dillard changed her name six years later when she married Scott Ross. They managed to maintain a long-distance relationship, with Scott running his New York and Los Angeles offices while Darci lived in Indianapolis. That changed with the birth of their daughter, Sydney. Scott moved Maven Management to Indianapolis.

Darci's health improved while she was pregnant. "But after I had her, it was boom, boom, boom with seizures that were bad, long, and more frequent," she recounts. "I had my second grand mal seizure while I was in the shower. My husband found me and immediately called the emergency tech people. On the way to the I.U. Medical Center, they asked me what my husband's name was. I didn't know. Then they asked me for my Social Security number and I gave it to them! The brain is so sensitive, so complicated."

She continues: "I had my second biopsy which showed that the tumor was bigger. They said I needed radiation, but I decided against it," she says clearing her throat nervously. "But after a year, it got really bad again. The tumor had gotten bigger. Much bigger. So I had to do the radiation." The self-confessed workaholic took the treatments on her lunch hour.

She continued on at CMG Worldwide. As president, her responsibilities include managing, marketing and licensing over 225 entertainment and sports personalities, and corporate trademarks for domestic and international merchandising and advertising programs. She is a warm and caring "people person." Her personality makes her a natural for both maintaining relationships with existing clients and acquiring new properties, as they are called in the licensing business. Acquiring new properties often takes time.

"If I think there is a very viable client out there, I will track them down and schmooze them until I get them," she confesses. "Like with Mickey Mantle. For the last 10 years, I tried to get Mickey Mantle as a client. And then he passed away. I finally got him as a client last year. He was alive when I wanted him. But dead when I got him!

"The other side of the business is marketing our clients. Bill Elliott, the NASCAR racing legend, is a new client and I'm focusing on negotiating die-cast cars for his race fans. Elliott celebrates his 25th year of racing this year. CMG Worldwide gets a commission on whatever license we do for a client. Usually, we charge in advance against royalties. We get some of the money up-front or a guarantee for a long-term period against royalties. And then we get a commission off the advance and against the future earnings of the royalties," she explains.

This year, CMG has added Garfield, Bette Davis, Chuck Berry, Rock Hudson, Nat King Cole and Richard Pryor to its list of legends. CMG's services include licensing the client's image and marks on retail goods, including posters, apparel, collectibles and gifts. It also has an in-house legal department which specializes in laws concerning domestic and foreign trademark issues, right of publicity, and intellectual property issues.

Though CMG Worldwide was involved heavily in Christie's Auction of client Marilyn Monroe's "Happy Birthday" dress, it didn't get a commission on the sale of the dress that went for $1.25 million. "When Marilyn died, she left everything to Lee Strasberg (her personal drama coach) and the estate now belongs to his widow, Anna. We are close to the estate and Anna needed our help to pull this thing off. But our end is marketing new product," including a wine collection called Marilyn Merlot since 1985. The entire collection is worth $75,000, according to Ross.

Marilyn Monroe is CMG's most lucrative client. Why? "Because it's Marilyn Monroe," Ross whispers breathlessly. "She and James Dean both passed away at a very young age. They looked great and they will always look that way. She's beautiful and James Dean looks like the kids look today, so kids like James Dean. He's one of our biggest clients, as well. So is Babe Ruth. But his fame is domestic. You really can't compare Babe Ruth and Marilyn Monroe. You have to adjust that his appeal is domestic while her appeal is international."

Ross admits to having a favorite client in their star-studded roster of properties. "I adore Julia Ruth Stevens," bubbles Ross. "She is Babe Ruth's daughter. She's 82 or 83 years old and legally blind. But you would never know it. Julia likes to tell people how she received only $100 in royalties before we were licensing Babe Ruth for her and the family. Now, she herself gets about six figures. And because of what we do for the Babe Ruth Baseball League (a youth baseball program), monies that are generated from licensing pay the children's flights to all of the Babe Ruth Baseball League World Series games," says the persistent promoter behind the extremely successful Babe Ruth 100th Anniversary logo licensing program.

But not all of Darci's memories of the Babe Ruth Baseball League World Series games are good. "I was going through radiation and after a game, I threw up all night. I woke up the next morning in this really cheesy hotel and my hair was all over the pillow. I lifted up my head and my hair was all gone. I wanted to cry but I had to put on a happy face with all those people." She ended up wearing a wig which she describes as "disgusting."

She remembers her contact with Italian sex symbol Sophia Loren for other reasons. "I had to go with Sophia for an appearance on QVC. We were in a limo and I was trying to have a nice conversation with her. But she wouldn't look at me. I felt very uncomfortable and I don't like it when someone makes me feel uncomfortable. She doesn't do that to Mark and he adores her. Duh!" she throws back her head in laughter with the realization that Loren prefers men.

"After coming home from a hectic weekend with Sophia last year, I got in late and had a really bad seizure on the way home. Fortunately, I pulled off the road. But I can drive while I'm having one. I just can't put words together. The tumor is in the back, left parietal-occipital area where your speech and hearing are. I wish it were on my creative side because I'm not that creative to begin with," she says with her usual self-deprecating humor.

LICENSE! magazine certainly found her creative. Last year, it chose her as one of the top 40 licensing executives under 40 years old. She also is an active member of the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association (LIMA), a not-for-profit organization that works for professionalism and the advancement of licensing. Ross attended an international LIMA licensing show just nine days after her daughter was born. "I was still looking pregnant, but I had baby pictures to prove that I wasn't!" she laughs.

Ross is now also under the care of neurosurgeon Dr. Edward J. Dropcho, professor of neurology at the I.U. School of Medicine. An MRI after her last episode showed that the tumor is much bigger. "It's now a Grade III," she bemoans. "A Grade IV is really bad."

A third biopsy has resulted in a seven-month regimen of chemotherapy. "The chemo is making me feel like crap right now," she admits. "But I don't want to focus on the tumor. I know that it's dangerous and that I'm in a lot of trouble. But why dwell on it every single day of my life? There is no reason to focus on such a negative part of my life. I want to have fun and enjoy life." She says the best part of her day is asking 5-year-old Sydney about her day at kindergarten.

Ross swears she never has uttered the lament, "Why me? Why has this happened to me?" But pressed, she admits to yelling, "This sucks! This really sucks!" She possesses an unconquerable spirit and a comedienne's sense of humor. Asked if her medications prevent her from driving, she answers, "No. But I'm not allowed to fly a plane. But then, I've never flown a plane!"

To know Darci Ross is to love her. And she is loved by so many, starting with her husband, whom she describes as "a Jewish mother. He feeds me and worries about me every minute. He's constantly calling me and so are my parents," she says with mock exasperation.

She credits Roesler for being one of her biggest advocates in finding the best medical care. "She's my friend," declares the devoted Roesler. His concern is evident in his voice. "We've worked together for 13 years. She helped grow this business with her classy touch. She has people like Bob Feller, Jim Palmer and Whitey Ford eating out of her hand. It's not just me. There is a whole network of people who are researching (the tumor) on her behalf."

Ross is grateful for their loving concern. But she's still frustrated. "I've met with people at Loma Linda, Johns Hopkins and Columbia Presbyterian. You name it and I've been there. I went to the Gamma Knife Center at Loma Linda and they told me that if they had had the resources they have now, they could have taken it out when I was first diagnosed. But the tumor has gotten so much bigger and it's gone into the temple lobe where it's intermingling with the good stuff. I'd take it out myself with a butcher knife. But I want to be able to function when it's out."

It doesn't take a brain surgeon to see that Darci needs help. Or maybe it does.