• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, October 19, 2015

Some very sad news coming out of adland today. Tom Adamski, CEO of Publicis Groupe's Razorfish Global, has died following a bout with cancer. He was 43. 

Of the loss, Publicis CEO Maurice Levy said: "We are deeply saddened by the loss of Tom Adamski. Tom was an important part of the Publicis family for many years, serving as a member of the P12 (Publicis executive committee), and left a significant mark on the Groupe. While we mourn the loss of Tom, we honor his joie de vivre and the inspiration he was day after day." 

Alan Herrick, who is CEO of Publicis.Sapient, the parent to Razorfish, added: "Our thoughts and prayers are with Tom's family during this difficult time. He was an extraordinary man who led with integrity and made everyone around him better. Tom inspired all of us to strive for greatness in our communities, in our lives and at our jobs, and left an enduring legacy on Razorfish Global. He will be greatly missed." 

Back in the early days of the Internet advertising scene, buzzword bingo was alive and well as Razorfish Founder Jeff Dachis attempted to describe just what Razorfish does to confused 60 Minutes II Correspondent Bob Simon saying: "We've asked our clients to recontextualize their business. We've recontextualized what it is to be a services business. We radically transform businesses to invent and reinvent them." 

No one is scratching their heads today as Razorfish has grown into one of the premiere marketing agencies in the field. 

Adamski will be missed.