07/20/2024 – 17:25
One of the most respected advertising professionals in the country, businessman Jaques Lewkowicz, founder of the advertising agency Lew’LaraTBWA, died this Friday, the 19th, at the age of 80, in São Paulo. Lewkowicz leaves behind his wife Cristina, his children Rodrigo and Juliana and his three grandchildren, Samy, Antônia and Duda.
The businessman’s burial will take place on the morning of this Sunday, the 21st, at 11 am. The wake is scheduled to begin at 9:30 am, at the Butantã Israelite Cemetery, located at Avenida Engenheiro Heitor Antônio Eiras Garcia, nº 5530, in the capital of São Paulo.
The businessman’s death generated an avalanche of posts from members of the national market on social media, where executives and friends of the creative lamented his departure, paid tribute and said goodbye to Lewkowicz.
Sixty-year-old intern
The businessman began his career in the 1970s as an art director, working at agencies such as Caio and Salles. He was vice president of creation at Ogilvy – part of the WPP group – for eight years, founder of SLLB and in 1992, together with Luiz Lara, he created Lew’Lara, which years later would join forces with the North American group TBWA, creating Lew’LaraTBWA. The business is currently among the 20 largest agencies in the Brazilian market, according to the Advertising Market Self-Regulation Forum (Cenp-Meios).
At the age of 69, in 2013, Lewkowicz left his position at the agency he founded alongside Lara to embark on a new phase of his career. From founder to intern at the technology giant Google, he also worked in the advertising market, helping the company build relationships with national agencies.
With over 30 years of career dedicated to advertising, Jacques Lewkowicz was one of the members of the “Hall of Fame” of the Brazilian Marketing Academy.
To the Statethe president of Cenp-Meios and chairman of Lew’LaraTBWA, Luiz Lara, mourned the death of his business partner. Lara highlighted the pioneering profile of his friend, who ventured into several businesses, was an executive in some of the main creative businesses in the country, using his platform to reveal new talents, who years later, would be the next leaders in the sector.
“Jaques has always been recognized for his incredible ability to reveal talents,” she said. “Curious, cultured, always with great sensitivity and Jewish wisdom, he knew how to create a light and fun environment to lead teams and create historic campaigns that positioned brands, boosted sales and entered popular culture,” recalled Lara.
For the president of Cenp-Meios, Jaques leaves an “enormous emotional legacy” to the sector that made a difference in the careers of many advertising professionals, from all areas and from different generations. “We have lost a giant,” lamented his friend and business partner at Lew’LaraTBWA.
The current CEO of Lew’LaraTBWA and president of the Brazilian Association of Advertising Agencies (Abap), Marcia Esteves, described the businessman as “one of the most incredible and beloved people and professionals in the national market” and also recalled the role of the advertising professional in fostering the careers of other professionals. “Everyone who had the opportunity to work with him became bigger and better,” said the CEO. “Brazilian advertising and Lew’LaraTBWA are lucky to have had the opportunity to have Jaques Lew as part of their history. He is not just in the name, he is in the soul of the agency.”
One of the names that Jaques Lewkowicz helped to foster his career in the market, the current vice president of marketing at Zamp – owner of brands such as Burger King and Starbucks –, Igor Puga, highlighted the entrepreneur’s generosity and the attitudes that he classified as “a fatherly care” with which the founder of Lew’Lara worked with his students. Puga was one of Lewkowicz’s partners in the founding of the data and performance-focused agency iD Lew’Lara, which years later was renamed iDTBWA.
“Jaques was probably the most generous and easy-going person I have ever dealt with in my entire professional life,” he said. “To be successful and relevant in this ecosystem while being human and generous is something only a very few human beings can do. He was a fatherly carer for others,” he added.
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