• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, October 3, 2022

Dan Wieden, co-founder of iconic independent ad agency Wieden + Kennedy died over the weekend at age 77. According to reports he died peacefully at home.

Wieden and his partner David Kennedy formed W+K on April Fool’s Day 1982 with founding client Nike. The pair had worked at McCann Erickson before striking out on their own.

Wieden is credited with coming up with Nike’s famous “Just Do It” slogan in 1988.

Kennedy died last October at 82.

Wieden was born March 6, 1945 in Portland and graduated from the University of Oregon with a journalism degree.

On its Twitter site over the weekend the agency tweeted, “Thank you Dan, for throwing the doors wide open for people to live up to their full potential. We will miss you so much.”