Bradford Meade is the publishing mogul behind Meade Publications.  After the death of Mode's Editor in Chief and his former mistress, Fey Sommers, he chose his youngest son, Daniel, to helm the magazine as editor.  He also was responsible for hiring Betty as Daniel's assistant, beliving her to be someone his playboy son would never sleep with.

One of Daniel's struggles is that Bradford has always preferred his older son, Alex, who died during a skiing accident.