After just being recently named as Managing Partner and Director for Business Development at WPP’s MediaCom, Gregory Richard Pruitt passed away over the weekend at the age of 46.
Described by friends who sent us news of his passing as a “really good guy” who “loved advertising” and someone that was “widely loved and admired,” Pruitt began his ad career in 1986, writing copy at Bozell, Atlanta as an unpaid intern and was subsequently promoted to a staff job at Bozell, New York. Along the way, he led successful new business initiatives at Cliff Freeman & Partners, Devito/Verdi and Ogilvy, supervised creative at Deutsch and directed a creative group at Partners & Shevack.
Outside of the agency world, Pruitt also directed Off-Broadway theater, wrote and produced for CBS News and co-founded branded content prodco H20 Films. In lieu of flowers, the family is establishing a memorial scholarship fund for advertising university students and requests that donations are made to:
Gregory R. Pruitt Memorial Fund
c/o Merrill Lynch
Two World Financial Center, 35th floor
New York, New York 10281