JWT mourns loss of Ken Grimshaw

Ken Grimshaw, the highly regarded J. Walter Thompson art director,

has died suddenly while on a shoot in Tobago.

Grimshaw, who was 48, had been diving on Sunday morning and was later

found dead in the swimming pool of his hotel. An autopsy is being

carried out.

Grimshaw was on a shoot with Traktor for Malibu's "life less serious"

campaign, for which he and his long-time copywriting partner, John

Donnelly, created JWT's debut ad earlier this year.

Jaspar Shelbourne, JWT's executive creative director, said: "Ken

Grimshaw was such a brilliant bloke. His enthusiasm for what he did

never waned in over 20 years. It's hard to describe how much he will be

missed. Our thoughts are with his family and many, many friends."

Donnelly said: "Through tears, I've been given the hardest brief of my

career. To come up with an epitaph for the nicest, strongest, most

talented bloke I've ever known. A man I've built a career with, laughed

with and experienced life to the full with for over 20 years. I'm sorry.

I just can't find the words."

Grimshaw and Donnelly, who had one of the longest, most prolific and

awarded partnerships in the business, joined JWT from CDP in 1995. They

first teamed up at CDP Aspect in 1981 and later moved to KMP - which

became CME KHBB - where they worked on the Carlsberg account. They moved

to TBWA in 1985 and then to Abbott Mead Vickers in 1986, where they took

places on the board and worked on a range of the agency's trophy

accounts, including Yellow Pages, Volvo, The Economist and the Leeds

Building Society.

At JWT, the pair created noted campaigns in notoriously difficult

categories, including a blockbuster 50-second commercial for Persil,

which used dramatic vignettes instead of the usual images of housewives

and children. They created an ad featuring Bonnie and Clyde for

Entenmann's cakes.

Their most recent work was the Kit Kat spot in which celebrities such as

Bernard Manning and Lemmy of Motorhead "take a break" from their public

personas and become nice.

Grimshaw leaves his wife, Carolyn, and a son and daughter, Katie and

Harry.