Lois Wyse, 80; writer, advertising exec coined Smucker’s slogan

Lois Wyse, 80, an advertising executive, author and columnist who coined the catchphrase “With a name like Smucker’s, it has to be good,” died Friday at her New York City home after a long struggle with stomach cancer, her family said.

She created the advertising slogan that helped propel J.M. Smucker Co. from a small Orrville, Ohio-based jam and jelly business into an international brand. Her suggestion that a small chain of stores try a new name -- Bed Bath & Beyond -- also helped that business turn into a retail heavyweight.

After co-founding Cleveland-based Wyse Advertising with her first husband in 1951, Wyse came up with the Smucker’s campaign while serving as her company’s creative director. During the 1967 mayoral campaign in Cleveland, she advised Carl Stokes, who became the first black mayor elected in a major American city.

Wyse, who later divorced Marc Wyse, opened her advertising company’s New York office in 1966. She married theatrical producer Lee Guber in 1988.

A Cleveland native, Wyse launched her career as a teenage reporter with the Cleveland News and the Cleveland Press. She later wrote for Vogue and Cosmopolitan.

Wyse wrote “The Way We Are,” a column that ran in Good Housekeeping magazine from 1983 to 1998 and recounted tales of her life and family.

She also wrote more than 60 books, including the 1989 bestseller “Funny, You Don’t Look Like a Grandmother.” The book was adapted into a musical revue and staged at Santa Monica Playhouse in 2000.