jay/day

Oh, I am so sorry to hear this. Guy was one of the greats in our business...and such a wonderful man. I remember sitting in a meeting with 10 or 15 people trying to come up with a solution for a new business pitch. Guy offered his idea...which was brilliant. Everyone in the room just looked at him and wondered why they didn't think of that! He did that time and time again....he was a truly kind man who will be sorely missed.

I joined C/D after Guy had left the company. I remember asking the people I worked with "who is 'Day' in Chiat/Day?" What I remember most is the initial reaction, "OH, Guy Day? What a great man..." was typically how it started - and I asked quite a few people that question with similar reactions. I did share some of my years at C/D with Guy's son - who worked out of the LA office.

I think the best way to honor Guy is to think of the passion he put into his work, the love he had for the creative process and carry that on into a new era.

My heart goes out to his family during this very difficult time...I truly understand your loss.

David A. Chapa

Guy actually left the agency twice, I think.
He left for a while in the late '70's and then came back in the early '80's. He was there when I was in the '80's. I will remember him as someone who always kept his head and always had a thoughtful answer to any question a young copywriter might have.
A gentleman through and through.

As a newbie writer, (Class of 1979-84), I was privileged to know both Bob Dion and Guy Day. They were two extremely talented and thoroughly nice men who not only set the bar high-- they gave me a hand up so I could try and reach it.

Guy Day always struck me as a really big picture kind of person. Like Jay, Guy always saw me as that young surfer kid from Orange County that Lee hired. Unlike Jay, Guy was always nice to me. I remember him fondly for that.

What a sad few weeks for Chiat/Day. Last week Bob Dion passed and now Guy Day. While I never worked with or really got a chance to know Bob, Guy was another story. When I first arrived at Chiat/Day in 1983 as an art director on Home Savings, one of the first people to walk into my cubicle at the Biltmore and introduce himself was none other than one of the men whose name was on the door. Guy was warm, humble and above all always willing to give me time whenever I asked. He became a mentor and teacher to me and one of the main reasons I ended up teaching myself is because of what I learned from him. While Jay challenged us all to push the boundaries and to think bigger thoughts, it was Guy who made sure the thoughts we thought were on brand and strategic. Many years after I left Chiat/Day and had become a manager myself, Guy would periodically send me notes with constructive thoughts. Those many years later he was still teaching. David Ogilvy said he admired and hired “people with gentle manners who treat other people as human beings”, I’m sure David is going to enjoy meeting Guy.

Very sad news. Guy Day was a wonderful man. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

I had the priviledge of working for Guy in my early days at the agency. He was such a nice person and very encouraging. I remember Guy's excitement when we were pitching the Porsche account. He had me rent a Porsche for him so he could do "research" for the new business pitch. He really enjoyed those days.
I think about him from time to time and will miss him. My thoughts are with his family.

So sorry to hear this.

I got to Chiat/Day in '83, all full of 23 year-old bluster, so much so that Tom Patty asked for my head within about two weeks of my getting there. 'Twas Guy who intervened: sat me down, told me in a very supportive way to cool my ass down, pick my battles. All through a thin veil of cigarette smoke and a 'take it from me, son, I've seen it ALL before' demeanour. When he talked, you listened.

On the morning we pitched Pizza Hut, Guy blew out the seat of his pants. Rather than shuffle around with his hands behind his back, he began the pitch by mooning the then CEO of Pizza Hut.

Fearless, classy, and often hilarious, his influence was and is underestimated: Jay was tempestuous in ways that would likely have hindered C/D's progress in the early days, were it not for the level-headedness of his partner.

And he was a gentleman, in the fullest sense of the word. I owe him.

Godspeed, Guy.

We all came to Chiat/Day in different ways, but coming from a Republican political background, I needed a friend. Guy Day was that friend. Calm, thoughtful, willing to answer any question. He loved the people in the agency, he loved the business and he loved the real world even more. Over the years we stayed in touch, and I always marveled at his calm and sense of excellence. A fabulous person that will be missed. All my sympathies go out to his family.

Bob Perkins

David Chapa took the words right out of my mouth:

"I remember asking the people I worked with "who is 'Day' in Chiat/Day?" What I remember most is the initial reaction, "OH, Guy Day? What a great man...""

Jay/Day, mourns.

Guy Day was not only a wonderful man but demonstrated tremendous leadership skills I have used throughout my career.

We all know of his seemingly never ending struggle to get a book published. So, one day he comes storming into my "office" very pissed at me.

It seems I got quoted in Publisher's Weekly as part of a review of some computer book. After a solid fist pounding on my desk, he asked, "How the hell did you get into PW before I did?"

A fine gentleman! RIP.

Though I had not seen him in a number of years, I have always held him in the highest regard; he will indeed be missed by his family and those who knew him well.

I first knew Guy back in the late 1950's when he, as an account executive, and I, as an assistant production manager, worked for Carson/Roberts/Inc., the iconic little Los Angeles ad agency that some years later was absorbed into Ogilvy & Mather. When Guy left to join Tom Faust and Paul Keye and form Faust/Day, he recruited me to be his new agency's print production manager. And, later, in 1968, when he and Jay Chiat began Chiat/Day, I moved again, to their new agency...it, later, to become a world-wide power. My stay at Chiat/Day was only about two years in duration, so I know few of the hundreds (thousands?) who worked there over the following years. But my affection for Guy has never waned.

Guy and I were the same age (born in 1933), so perhaps we shared many of the same "old-fashioned" values. He was unquestionably one of the most creative people I have ever had the privilege of knowing. He had a quiet, wry, ironic sense of humor...and of honor. He was even-tempered; quick to praise, and slow to criticize. Any disagreements he had...creative, financial, philosophical...with his partners or colleagues, were discussed privately and quietly; firmly but politely.

Advertising agencies, by their very nature, are generally peopled by mercurial personalities. Guy's mind was lightning-quick, but his tongue was mannerly and controlled. He was in every sense of the word, a gentleman -- a gentle man.

Although our paths have not crossed in many years, I was deeply saddened to learn of his death. His generation and mine is slowly reaching its end; many of those whom we mutually knew and worked with are no longer with us. But for however many days remain for me, Guy Brian Day will always occupy a very special place in my heart and memories. There, indeed, was a man.

I'm shocked! I can't believe it! Guy Day was one of my first bosses when I started out as an art director at Faust/Day in 1966. An incredible man with a monster talent. The ad industry has lost a truly great man. I'm saddened by his passing however the fire he lit in me to strive for great creative still burns in me as I'm sure it does in all who worked with him. We will all miss him.

I met Guy long after he had left Chiat/Day and was living in semi-retirement in Westlake Village. He was the very first person to call me after my partners Joe Sciarrotta, Fred Smith and I started The Leap Partnership. Guy got the concept of our agency immediately. In fact he got it better than we did. Guy and I became fast friends. He constantly wrote me letters and guided us with his wisdom. So much so, we made him a director of the company. I will miss Guy greatly. He was a friend, a confidant, a partner and a mentor. There was no one wiser and no one more pure.