Jack Connors, Hill Holliday co-founder and a Boston titan, dies at 82

Jack Connors, the longtime advertising executive who loved his hometown Boston so much that he started an ad agency there, died on Tuesday at the age of 82. The cause of death was cancer, The Boston Globe reported. Connors co-founded Hill Holliday (then known as Hill Holliday Connors Cosmopulos) in 1968, right after the true-blue Bostonian quit BBDO a day after being told he would have to move to Detroit to accept his promotion to VP. He served as Hill Holliday’s CEO until 2003, when he handed the reins over to then-President Mike Sheehan. Less than a decade later, in 2011, Connors was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame. “As we remember Jack, we recall that, when asked if he had a personal motto, Jack sort of winked and said, ‘I have nothing more to prove, but a lot more to give,’” said Hill Holliday CEO Chris Wallrapp in a statement. “Thank you, Jack Connors. You gave plenty and you will continue to give in ways that are impossible to measure.” Connors co-founded the agency along with Steve Cosmopulos, George Hill and Alan Holliday. In 1998, when Interpublic Group of Cos. bought Hill Holliday, then-IPG CEO Phil Geier tried to get Connors to come to New York. He turned him down, just as he also turned BBDO down. (In January, IPG sold Hill Holliday to global marketing services company Attivo Group.) “I’m an entrepreneur. I’m not sure I can spell it, but that’s what I am. And I love Boston. I wanted to be home. And I had the opportunity to build a big business in my hometown,” Connors said in an interview with Ad Age in 2011. Indeed, Connors loved Boston, and he was wired into every facet of the business, political and social communities there. He was an avid philanthropist, supporting organizations such as Mass General Brigham, Boston College and the Campaign for Catholic Schools. “He loved to help people who couldn’t help themselves,” said Sheehan. “And he was tireless. It was eight in the morning until eight at night.” Massachusetts Cardinal Seán O'Malley said Connors “combined a life of civic leadership and Christian generosity.” Massachusetts “lost a champion” on Tuesday, said Gov. Maura Healey. “Jack Connors was a leader in business, but his most lasting legacy will come from his generosity and philanthropy,” Healey wrote. “Jack spent his life trying to make Massachusetts and this country a fairer, more inclusive place—and he succeeded.” In 2007, Connors and then-Boston Mayor Tom Menino established Camp Harbor View, a day camp for disadvantaged kids aged 11 to 14 years old. On June 8 at the Camp Harbor View Beach Ball, Connors announced the organization had received a record-breaking fundraising total of $13.4 million, according to a Camp Habor View statement. “We’re the ones that made the money. We're the ones that had success. Now we've got to help those that weren't as fortunate as we were,” Connors once told Ad Age. Connors is survived by his wife, Eileen, and four children, Susanne, Tim, Kevin and John, who is the CEO of Boston-based agency Boathouse.

Jack Connors, Hill Holliday co-founder and a Boston titan, dies at 82

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