James Robson Heekin, Jr., who was tapped by David Ogilvy to serve as president of Ogilvy & Mather in 1965 and who later held the same post at DDB n 1972, passed away this week at the age of 82.
During Heekin’s tenure at Ogilvy, the agency went public in 1966, set up its first direct marketing unit in ’67 and locked clients like Merck, Gillette, Hershey and Contact cold capsules.
According to the release, Heekin–who’s the father of Grey Group Chairman/CEO James R. Heekin III–was atypical in the Mad Men era and believed creativity was everyone’s job at the agency. He once told a columnist, “The president of an agency in 1969 must be wholly immersed in the creative activity of the agency. I am intimately involved on the creative work.”
More: “Posthumous Words from David Ogilvy: 10 Years Gone Today”