George Lois and his wife Rosemary [top left] will be eulogized at a star-studded memorial at CCNY for the industry icon, cultural activist, and co-founder of The One Club for Creativity. Below, Lois with BIC students at CCNY.
On Wednesday, March 1, at 6 p.m. family, friends and fans will pay tribute to George Lois, industry icon, cultural activist, and co-founder of The One Club for Creativity. He will be honored, along with his wife Rosemary Lois, in The Great Hall at The City College of New York where George donated his archives and where he served as a Board Member for the Branding + Integrated Communications (BIC) graduate program and mentor to Advertising/Public Relations undergraduates.
Luminaries to speak include Senator Bill Bradley, paper magazine founder Kim Hastreiter, fashion Designer Tommy Hilfiger, U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich, photographer Platon, TBWA New York Group Chair Rob Schwartz, and The One Club for Creativity CEO Kevin Swanepoel.
George Lois passed away peacefully on November 18, 2022, surrounded by the things he held most dear: His family, his best friend, his work, and his art. He was predeceased by his wife of over 70 years, Rosemary Lewandowski Lois, who died two months earlier. George was a towering figure, not just in the industry, but in our culture. He was a fighter against injustice, mediocrity, and bigotry. From depicting Muhammad Ali as Saint Sebastian on the cover of “Esquire” magazine to having Mick Jagger scream "I WANT MY MTV,” George rocked the world with his explosive design and "big idea" thinking. He not only helped usher in the Creative Revolution, but was co-founder of The One Club for Creativity, the premier organization that honors creative excellence. George Lois is the youngest person to be inducted into the Art Directors Hall of Fame.
According to “Ad Age,” “Long before celebrities were ubiquitous in advertising, in the 1960s Lois persuaded icons of the art world, including Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali, to be featured in a series of memorable commercials for Braniff Airlines, pairing them with unexpected seatmates such as boxer Sonny Liston and baseball pitcher Whitey Ford.” In 2008, his “Esquire” covers became part of the permanent collection at MoMA.
Click here to read more Lois tributes.
The memory of George and Rosemary Lois will be eulogized in The Great Hall at The City College of New York where George established The George Lois BIG IDEA Archives so that his legacy of “big idea” thinking as well as his crusade on behalf of diverse, underestimated talent will live on.
The Lois family requests that those interested in supporting The George Lois Big Idea Archives to make a donation here.
The Lois memorial is open to the public. Click here to register. For more information, please contact Nancy Tag at ntag@ccny.cuny.edu or 212.650.6562.
About the City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Emsi puts at $1.9 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. This year, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign, ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.