Hy Yablonka, a beloved creative who mentored assorted agency artisans, passed away earlier this month at the age of 81. Best known for his work as creative director at Chiat/Day from its very inception–and credited with the hiring of industry icon Lee Clow–Yablonka was Jay Chiat’s creative partner at the predecessor agency Jay Chiat & Associates which merged with Guy Day’s Faust/Day to form the L.A. boutique shop Chiat/Day (now TBWAChiatDay) in October 1968. Yablonka was one of four original shareholders in Chiat/Day–Jay Chiat and Guy Day holding the principal stakes with Yablonka and Faust Day’s Tom Burr serving as partners maintaining minority shares in the agency.
Yablonka spearheaded creative for Chiat/Day, including all television spanning varied clients, including breakthrough work on the Honda automobile account. Chiat/Day’s first hire was Chuck Phillips as account exec; he later became the head account person. Yablonka and Phillips later teamed at Chiat/Day’s San Francisco office (Chiat/Day had bought the venerable S.F. agency Hoefer Dieterich & Brown) in the early 1980s. Phillips was CEO of the S.F. shop with Yablonka heading creative. Yablonka moved onto Kenyon & Eckhardt in Los Angeles, then New York to creative direct high-profile automobile business.
Of their tenure together in San Francisco, Phillips recalled, “We had a blast up there.” But Phillips moved to Canada in 1987 to open Chiat/Day’s Toronto operation. Phillips related, “Hy and I lost touch. We reconnected in L.A. around 2000 and have been friends since.” Phillips noted that Yablonka had been in poor health in recent years and sadly his death “was not a surprise.”
Yablonka had health issues which included multiple strokes and bouts with cancer. Mike Yablonka related that his father “passed away from his body getting older and simply shutting down on him.”
Though he maintained a low profile, Yablonka is regarded as a major creative force behind Chiat/Day’s ascent from a small L.A. boutique to national prominence in the late 1960s and early ‘70s.
Mike Yablonka recalled, “One of the things I would tell my friends growing up is that it was interesting to watch my dad as he would go to sleep in the evening, go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and wake up with an idea in the morning that I would see on TV six months later.”
