Dan Wieden, co-founder of legendary advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, who coined the Nike tagline, Just Do It, died in his home in Portland on September 30, at the age of 77.

Wieden+Kennedy released the following statement, “We are heartbroken. But even more so, we are overcome with gratitude and love. Thank you Dan, for throwing the doors wide open for people to live up to their full potential. Thank you for your steadfastness, courage, faith and abiding love. Thank you for making this beautiful creative life possible. We will miss you so much.

“Wieden and his former business partner, David F. Kennedy, together founded one of the most famous advertising agencies in the world. W+K became an advertising powerhouse, known for its iconic Nike campaigns, including the Just Do It commercials.

“Wieden was born and raised in Portland, where he went to Grant High School. He graduated from University of Oregon with a degree in journalism, before he later got into public relations and copywriting. Wieden worked for Georgia-Pacific, a forest products company based in Portland.

“On April Fool’s Day, 1982, Wieden and David Kennedy founded Wieden+Kennedy. With a card table, a few chairs, some cardboard file cabinets, and one client—Nike.”

Wieden never formally retired from the agency. Instead, he stepped into a chairman role and away from active agency life in 2015.

Currently W+K has offices in Portland, London, Amsterdam, New York, Delhi, Shanghai, Tokyo and São Paulo. His business partner, David Kennedy, died last year.

Portland Oregon news channel KOIN 6 presented this tribute to the ad legend:

Oregon newspaper, The Oregonian, published this tribute.