Mail bomb kills ad exec
Motive sought in death of Young & Rubicam veep at N.J. home

Emergency Workers and Essex County bomb squad crew examine home of THomas Mosser, who was killed by mail bomb in the North Caldwell, N.J., home yesterday.

A top Madison Avenue advertising executive was killed in his New Jersey home yesterday when a booby-trapped package exploded as he opened it.

Thomas Mosser, 50, was recently named executive vice president and general manager of Young & Rubicam Inc. Worldwide, one of the largest ad agencies in the world.

Authorities could not immediately determine a motive for the death, Essex County Prosecutor Clifford Minor said last night.

There was no indication the executive was involved in any criminal activities, or that any threats had been made against him or his family, Minor said.

Police said that when the explosion occurred at about 10:45 a.m., Mosser was in the kitchen of his two-story hilltop home in North Caldwell in a heavily wooded, Essex County community.

Mosser’s wife, Susan, and his two children, ages 13 years and 15 months, were also in the house, North Caldwell Police Chief James Rush said.

“Thank the good Lord, no one else was injured,” he said.

The kitchen was heavily damaged by the blast, authorities said.

Sources said the distraught Susan Mosser was concerned that the attack could be related to her husband’s business, particularly to his recent promotion.

Officials were checking for possible links to other unsolved bombings, including a series of attacks targeting college professors and scientists mostly in the 1970s and 1980s, sources said. [TEXT OBSCURED] and a half of the initial call. Officers called for a medical helicopter, but the call was canceled when it became apparent that Mosser was dead, one officer said.

Neighbors said Mosser had returned home late Friday night after a business trip.

By early afternoon, agents of the FBI, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Essex County sheriff’s bomb squad, local police were combing the house for clues.

Mosser’s body was removed from the house at 4:45 p.m.

At least three New York Police Department bomb squad detectives went to the headquarters of Young & Rubicam at Madison Ave and 40^th St. yesterday afternoon with an explosive-sniffing dog.

A spokesman for Y&R said the detectives checked the mail room. As the detectives left, one said they had found no trace of explosives. The police team also searched the offices of Y&R Chief Executive Officer Peter Georgescu, but found me indication of any explosive device, sources said.

In North Caldwell, neighbors described the Mossers as quiet people.

“They’re just very nice people,” said Arlene Hayward, who lives nearby. “We see them go to work every morning and come back every night.”

“Nationwide, this kind of incident is extremely rare,” said Postal Inspector John Johnson.

Richard McGowan, spokesman for Young & Rubicam, said Mosser had spent “many years” with the company, most of them in Burson Marsteller, a subsidiary that is one of the world’s largest public relations firms.

Young & Rubicam’s client list includes many familiar brand names, including Philip Morris, American Express and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

“He just took this job as general manager and executive vice president two weeks ago,” McGowan said. “He was a member of the agency’s most senior operating committee, responsible for corporate duties.

“He was one of our very finest communications executives,” said McGowan. “We’re obviously devastated by the news. We extend our greatest sympathies to his family.”

Of the explosion, McGowan said agency officials “have absolutely no signs at all and no clue to what it was all about — it came totally out of the blue.”

Daily News Staff Writers Patricia Winters and Michael S.C. Claffey contributed to this account.