Frank X. Custer

About Frank

Frank and his family
Frank and his family
 

Frank X. Custer is a public relations consultant who has spent half his professional career in the private sector and the other half in the public sector.  In the private sector he has been a newspaper editor and reporter, vice president of an advertising and public relations agency and currently is co-owner of a public relations and government affairs consulting firm.  Having served in Democratic and Republican Administrations at the county, state and federal levels of government, he not only understands how government should work, but also understands what it takes to be an honest and effective elected official.

           

He is the grandson and son of steelworkers, and knows what it means to come from a working class family.   A native of Plymouth Township and a graduate of St. Matthew High School (later Archbishop Kennedy), Frank served four years in the U.S. Navy.  He went to college on the G.I. Bill and graduated from Temple University with a degree in Journalism.  He spent several years as a newspaper editor and reporter before his career evolved into public relations.  He has been public information director for both Chester and Montgomery Counties; spent 12 years as a vice president and account executive with a Valley Forge-based advertising and public relations agency; spent five years with the Florida Department of Commerce heading up the largest tourism publicity office in the world; served as Congressman Joe Hoeffel’s senior advisor and press secretary for six years; and, as mentioned, now operates his own PR consulting firm. 

 

Frank, and his first wife, Nancy, married during his college years and they raised two children, Rebecca and Jonathan, both of whom graduated from public schools.  Tragically, Nancy died from cancer in 1996 when Rebecca was a sophomore in college and Jonathan a sophomore in high school.  Frank dedicated himself to being a single parent, and both Rebecca and Jonathan are now college graduates and leading successful lives. 

 

Frank later married Martha Simelaro, and they now live in Upper Gwynedd.  Always active in his community, Frank was a mainstay in youth sports when his family lived in Lower Salford Township.  He coached youth basketball, baseball and softball teams. In addition, he was the co-founder and first commissioner of the Souderton-Harleysville Youth Basketball Association and was a board member of the Harleysville Girls Softball League for many years.  Frank was also a PIAA basketball referee from 1992 to 1999.

 

He has served as a volunteer with ActionAIDS in Philadelphia, and is now a member of the North Penn Symphony Orchestra board of directors, the Nor-Gwyn Pool Commission and the Board of Directors of the Gwynedale Homeowners Association.



Paid for by Pennsylvania HDCC; Authorized by Frank X. Custer, Joan Nagel Treasurer