A Tribute to Gary Koepke, The Coolest Man I’ve Ever Met

There is sadly a vacancy now available for whoever fancies the mantle of “the coolest man on earth”. That’s because my dear friend Gary Koepke, co-founder of legendary ad agency Modernista! and previous incumbent of the title, passed away last week unexpectedly from a heart attack. Probably the first genuinely uncool thing he has ever done. Myself and many people all over the world have been swirling in heartbreak since the news broke. 

I remember Gwyn Jones, former global CEO of BBH telling me the story of pitching against Modernista! for Project (Red) in New York and described the shock of seeing the M! team come out of the pitch meeting looking like a scene from Reservoir Dogs. The coolest looking people he had ever seen in an agency with Gary at the front. 

When I arrived at the agency in 2009 I saw what he meant. The place spun around every angle and corner of creativity you could think of, beautiful design everywhere, stunning music taste, moving poetic writing, long form publishing, stretching technology to the trouser hems of what is possible. It was less an agency more an actual separate creative planet that had somehow landed from the dark side of the moon, bounced off the Empire State Building and touched down in ChinaTown in Boston next to disused laundry called Farley Harvey. We talked about relaunching a clothing brand under the name Farley Harvey for New England Rat Pack chic, but never managed it. 

Gary worked with Bono on Project (Red) to help raise $750m for AIDs in Africa. Rubbed his Prada black jacket shoulders with the Gates Foundation, The Clinton Initiative, the Kennedy’s and the Bush families offering to bring his crew from the creative planet called Modernista! into their good causes to help make the world a smidge better.

Gary proudly would talk about directing a video for David Bowie. Working with U2, Daft Punk, and Will Ferrell. He could draw a perfect circle freehand, and had a deep understanding of technology and design. Gary was here to squeeze every last drop of creativity and life from being blessed with such cool. Gary was a perpetual experiment in every single molecule. 

Gary was on the Board of Stop Handgun Violence and some fine folks who loved him set up a donation page in his honour. If you knew Gary and can afford to donate in his memory it’s probably a lot better than Farley Harvey. 

Many many will have their own stories of Gary. To me he was the coolest guy I've ever met. So my world just got a little bit less cool. I guess where Gary is now he is going to have to compete with Sinatra in cool stakes, but I wouldn’t bet against him winning old Frank over.