Longtime promoting government John J. Dooner Jr. died of coronary heart failure on Dec. 31, 2025 in Jupiter, Fla. He was 77 years previous.
Born in 1948 in New Rochelle, N.Y., Dooner spent the vast majority of his profession at McCann, which he joined in 1984 after beginning out at Gray Promoting in 1970. There he labored on purchasers like Coke and Gillette till 1992, when he was promoted to president and CEO of McCann Erickson, a task he remained in till 2000.
In 1997, Dooner formalized McCann Worldgroup as a worldwide community housing businesses together with McCann, MRM, Momentum, McCann Well being, and Craft, bringing collectively advertising and marketing capabilities beneath a single umbrella in a altering digital panorama. (The McCann Worldgroup identify was sunsetted following Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG in November.)
Dooner was briefly chairman and CEO of McCann’s father or mother firm, Interpublic Group (IPG), from 2000 to 2003, the place he led the acquisition of True North, bringing key businesses together with FCB and Deutsch into the community.
He then returned to guide McCann Worldgroup as chairman from 2003 to 2011 earlier than turning into Chairman Emeritus.
“John Dooner discovered his dwelling at McCann and led it into the twentieth century with a visionary drive,” stated Daryl Lee, chairman of McCann and former CEO of McCann Worldgroup, in an announcement shared with ADWEEK. He added that Dooner’s creation of McCann Worldgroup “set the template for the business’s continued evolution to today.”
“We are going to at all times proudly stand in his shadow,” he stated.
Along with his work at McCann, Dooner was deeply concerned within the business, serving as chairman of the Advert Council, vice chairman of the 4A’s, and dealing carefully with the AEF to assist promoting schooling. He was inducted into the Promoting Corridor of Fame in 2019.
“John is without doubt one of the really distinctive leaders who formed and outlined the business all of us work in as we speak. Throughout McCann, we’re proud and honored to face on the platform he constructed,” stated Tyler Turnbull, international CEO of McCann. “All of us will proceed to innovate and evolve in service of what’s finest for our purchasers and our folks—simply as John did throughout his unimaginable profession.”
