George Lois: June 26, 1931 - November 18, 2022
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george holding the first esquire cover he designed / photographed by platon for fast company’s october 2012 ipad issue
George lois
June 26, 1931 - November 18, 2022
Legendary art director, George Lois, passed away on November 18, 2022 at the age of 91, in Manhattan. His work, including 92 Esquire covers, provoked audiences and influenced countless designers who followed in his footsteps. His legacy will continue to leave a lasting impact and he will be missed.
George was a member of the SPD community and a recipient of our prestigious Herb Lubalin Award. We’ve searched through the SPD archives and have shared some past posts below.
Publisher’s Note from George’s First Esquire Cover / 1962
“On the October 1962 Esquire cover, Lois accurately predicted that boxer Sonny Liston would defeat Floyd Patterson in their upcoming heavyweight championship fight. The cover depicts a boxer, wearing Patterson's shorts, lying knocked out on the canvass. Says Lois, ‘The press wrote about the chutzpah of calling a fight on a magazine cover, and the issue was a sellout.’
In the wake of Liston's first round knockout of Patterson, it's hard to imagine, but that opinion at the time was decidedly in the minority. Lois pointed out the Publisher's Letter, which ran inside that October 1962 Esquire issue, to Florian Bachleda, and he passed it along to SPD. In it they take Lois's cover to task, disavowing his prediction and saying "we'd prefer to believe that Liston can be stopped, and that Patterson is the one that can do it." And it's not a passing comment; half the letter is devoted to criticizing Lois's cover choice. It's a pointed lesson to the fact, as Bachleda says, ‘that designers should stick to their guns.’”
-Robert Newman (from a SPD post published October 2012 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the cover)
Herb Lubalin Award / 2004
On May 7, 2004 at the 39th Annual SPD Awards Gala, George was presented with SPD’s Herb Lubalin Award. The following video was created by Fred Woodward, Michael Norseng, Hudd Bayard, and the talented team at GQ.
Breakfast with Mr. Lois / 2010
In advance of a speaker event in March 2010, about George’s new book George Lois: The Esquire Covers, he and Scott Dadich met up at his home to discuss the final preparations. Nathalie Kirsheh and Brandon Kavulla listened on and recorded the following:
