Walter Landor; Founder of Firm That Designed Corporate Logos

Walter Landor, founder of the design firm Landor Associates that gave the corporate world logos for Coca-Cola, General Electric, Shell Oil and other industry giants, has died.

Landor, who died Friday, was 81.

A native of Germany, Landor studied art in London before coming to the United States for the 1939 World’s Fair. Two years later, he and his wife, Josephine Martinelli Landor, started the design firm. Landor eventually based his colorful headquarters on a converted ferryboat called the Klamath that was docked at San Francisco’s Pier 5. Before it was purchased by the advertising firm Young & Rubicam in 1989, Landor Associates grew to employ a worldwide staff of 500 with tens of millions of dollars in billings.

Among its best-known logo designs was the ubiquitous little label tucked into garment seams identifying fabric as cotton. Clients included Colgate-Palmolive, Coors, Dole, Tropicana, Kraft-General Foods, and, in San Francisco, Levi Strauss, Bank of America, Del Monte, Wells Fargo, Pacific Telesis and Safeway.

The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History completed a permanent collection of Landor’s designs and packaging last year.

Landor retired in the late 1980s, and suffered a stroke two years ago.

Besides his widow, survivors include two daughters, Lynn Landor and Susan Landor Keegin, and four grandchildren.

A memorial service is scheduled at 4 p.m. Tuesday at San Francisco’s St. Francis Yacht Club. The family has requested that any memorial donations be made to The Exploratorium, 3601 Lyon St., San Francisco, Calif. 94123.