Montgomery McKinney; Ad Executive

Montgomery (Monty) Nelson McKinney, former chairman of advertising juggernaut Chiat/Day and believed to be the oldest working adman in the nation, has died at age 85.

McKinney, most recently vice chairman of the Kresser Stein Robaire ad agency, died Saturday of pneumonia at St. Johns Hospital in Santa Monica.

He spent most of his career with the Doyle Dane Bernbach (now DDB/Needham) agency, but moved to the neophyte Chiat/Day in 1975 when he reached DDB’s mandatory retirement age of 65. Credited with stabilizing the creative little company’s high turnover of accounts, McKinney was soon named chairman.

After eight years helping Chiat/Day become one of the country’s preeminent advertising agencies, he returned to Doyle Dane Bernbach, which he had always called his “second home.” With a new law eliminating mandatory retirements, his old firm named him chairman of DDB/West. McKinney moved to what was then Kresser Craig in 1988.

“The things that are taking place in advertising now are incredible,” he said at age 79. “I’d love to be here for another 25 years to see what happens.”

Last fall, he earned the Distinguished Achievement Award presented jointly by the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies, the Western States Advertising Agencies Assn. and the Advertising Club of Los Angeles. A “Dinner with Monty” raised $30,000 to fund a Monty McKinney Scholarship to aid students at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.

A decade ago, the American Assn. of Advertising Agencies established the Monty McKinney Award, presented annually to the best marketing team at the group’s Institute of Advanced Advertising Studies. Established at USC, the institute is now conducted at Loyola Marymount University.

A third generation adman, McKinney grew up in Chicago and graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio. He took time out from his career to serve in the Navy during World War II. After beginning work at a food manufacturing business his father had started in Chicago, he moved to the company’s advertising agency, Earle Ludgin Advertising.

In 1957, McKinney moved to Doyle Dane Bernbach in Los Angeles, handling such accounts as E & J. Gallo Wine, Max Factor, Volkswagen and American Airlines.

He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Virginia (Ginny) Dickey; four children, Jane McKinney McDonald and William Montgomery McKinney from his first marriage, and Beth Ellen and Robert Nelson McKinney, and five grandchildren.

Services are scheduled at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Westwood United Methodist Church, 10497 Wilshire Blvd. Interment will be in Bala Cynwyd, Pa.

Memorial contributions can be sent to the Union Rescue Mission, P.O. Box 629, Los Angeles, CA 90053, or to the Monty McKinney Scholarship Fund, Pasadena Art Center College of Design, 1700 Lida St., Pasadena, CA 91103.