Humble beginnings
Founded in 1971 on the first anniversary of Earth Day, RPG was envisioned by Keiser and Friedmann as a 100-percent-recycled alternative to traditional greeting cards that would target the burgeoning baby boomer generation.
The company started small-run out of Friedmann's two-bedroom Chicago apartment-but its impulsive creativity has led to phenomenal success. Today, RPG is the third-largest company in the greeting card industry, after Hallmark and American Greetings, with $100 million in annual sales at stores nationwide.
Initially, neither Keiser nor Friedmann anticipated that the company would become a large-scale enterprise. "It was really an afterthought," said Keiser.
In 1971, both planned to attend graduate school. "[We saw RPG] as a good deed and an opportunity to have fun and take a stab at something we'd never done," said Friedmann.
While the use of 100-percent-recycled paper is enough to make RPG unique, the company is also noted for its unusual card designs. Friedmann and Keiser welcomed humor and creativity not generally accepted in the traditional card industry, following what Friedmann describes as the "gut reaction" in choosing card designs.
A large part of the company's distinctive character comes from allowing independent artists to apply their ingenuity to greeting cards.
While not radical in their environmentalism, Keiser and Friedmann saw RPG as an opportunity to make a difference. Originally, they considered either school supplies or Christmas cards as the basis for a recycled-paper company to prove that it was an economically viable idea.
"[We were] three years into it before we realized it was really more than an ecology project," said Friedmann.
Thirty-two years later, Keiser and Friedmann are still committed to the environment. "We try to cut down on automobile use," said Keiser, noting that both he and Friedmann live within walking distance of the office, a former dairy building located two blocks from Wrigley Field in Chicago.
Friedmann's College experience
In college, neither Friedmann nor Keiser would have guessed that recycled paper would become such a central part of their lives. "We liked trees; we didn't hug them," said Keiser.
Both Keiser and Friedmann reflect warmly on their time at Amherst, in and out of the classroom.
"Overall, I had a ball, and I learned a little something and learned how much more I could have learned," Friedmann said.
A political science major, Friedmann welcomed the challenges Amherst presented. He recalls a writing-intensive introductory English course where he labored overs papers only to have them torn apart by the professor. Then, one time, he forgot an assignment until the last minute and dashed it off right before class-and received his best grade yet.
Friedmann learned an important lesson, one that has benefitted him in life and guided his approach to RPG: "Go with your instinct; say what's on your mind."
Outside of classes, Friedmann's time was consumed by skiing. He remembers weekends of all-day trips from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. where he and his friends would ski all day and then do it all over again the next morning.
Friedmann regards the lifelong friendships he has formed as some of the best aspects of his time at Amherst. One of these bonds was with his roommate of two years, Mike Keiser.
Amherst and the world
Keiser also formed strong relationships while at Amherst. In addition to meeting his business partner, Keiser met his wife Lindy, a Smith College alumna. The two have four children.
An English major, Keiser laughs that he was "the least good student in the class of '67 English Department," at least based on the demanding comprehensive exam taken before graduation.
"I wasn't as smart as I thought I was going into Amherst," he said, a lesson that he considers one of the most valuable he learned in college.
Outside of classes, though, he enjoyed the "ongoing social mix" of meals at Valentine and was a member of Chi Psi before fraternities were abolished.
For three years, he was a member of the golf team, playing at the Meadow course in South Hadley, which he still remembers fondly. Golf is one of Keiser's continued passions. Not only does he play the sport, he also designs the courses. The three courses he has created to date, one in Michigan and two in Oregon, provide not only recreation but also exquisite scenery.
Keiser envisions good golf courses as those that a non-golfer would be delighted to walk. "Basically, a great golf course is a beautiful landscape," he said.
Although Keiser designs golf courses only as a hobby, the results have been widely acclaimed. Bandon Dunes, which opened in Oregon in May 1999, was ranked in Golf Digest's "Top 100 Courses" list. Located next to Bandon, Pacific Dunes topped even Keiser's earlier efforts and was ranked in the top 30 of Golf Digest's list after opening in July 2001. Both courses are public, attracting devoted golfers from around the world.
Life after college
After graduating in 1967, Keiser and Friedmann went their separate ways without any idea that four years later they would reunite and found the company to which they would devote the majority of their adult lives.
Keiser was drafted and joined the U.S. Navy to become an officer. He describes the four years he spent with the Navy as a fabulous experience, noting that it complemented his Amherst education. "It's good to be humbled. [To the military], you're just a body," Keiser said.
Friedmann went on to law school at NYU. He studied there until the spring of 1968, when he left to join Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy's presidential campaign. McCarthy ran in the Democratic Primary as an anti-war alternative to President Lyndon B. Johnson in the era when Vietnam was the center of national controversy.
After campaign staff offered Friedmann the position of Oregon finance director, he remembers being given "an airline ticket, directions to a hotel, and a brown paper bag of money," launching a period of political immersion.
The campaign thrust Friedmann into the heart of Democratic politics. He was at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles the night Robert Kennedy was shot, and served as executive director of finance and administration for McCarthy's campaign through the turbulent Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where McCarthy lost the presidential nomination to Vice President Hubert Humphrey.
After a year spent traveling in Africa and Asia with a college friend, Friedmann returned to the United States to join the Vietnam moratorium campaign. Along with Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary, he organized the Winter Festival for Peace in New York to raise money for peace candidates. Tickets for the concert, which featured musicians from Blood, Sweat and Tears to Jimi Hendrix, sold out faster than tickets for any other concert at Madison Square Garden.
Following this initial success, Friedmann went on to plan an all-day concert at Shea Stadium later that year. The show became so popular that Janis Joplin called Friedmann, asked to take part and flew out halfway through the day to be able to perform.
The birth of RPG
Friedmann continued supporting anti-war candidates and traveling until 1971, when he visited Keiser and his wife and began to formulate the plan that eventually developed into Recycled Paper Greetings.
While some might think it would be difficult to run a business with a close friend, for Friedmann and Keiser it has been an ideal situation.
Friedmann likens the initial years of the company to "a play date." They played frisbee in the park, ate lunch together and did work on the beach. Keiser found their closeness not only enjoyable but also a business advantage. "If you know someone, you don't have to redefine things for the first half hour of every meeting," he said.
For about 10 years, the two took winter vacations together to go helicopter skiing in Canada, giving them a chance to relax and refocus. "It's a pure, pristine environment to be in," remembers Friedmann, explaining that while the tradition has been broken off recently he hopes they will make the trip again this winter.
Even as the company has expanded exponentially, they have stayed close friends and still share the same office.
Reflecting on the history of RPG, Friedmann concludes that the 32-year partnership has been "the most unusual and rewarding part of it."