Allan Henry Buitekant

Allan Buitekant passed away in Asheville, NC on July 14, aged 78. Allan retired to North Carolina after an illustrious career as an advertising art director in New York City. He was one of a small group of art directors and writers at the Doyle Dane Bernbach agency who revolutionized advertising in the 1960’s and 70’s. Their work was characterized by elegance, wit, taste, and a painstaking attention to detail. These brilliant and irreverent upstarts eventually drove the older generation of hard-drinking sloganeering "Mad Men" out of the business.

In his home/studio in Union Mills, Allan continued his lifelong pursuit of his true vocation, ceramics. He was greatly influenced by the Japanese Mashiko tradition, which emphasizes simple forms and earth tones. (To see some of his remarkable work, go to www.buitekantpottery.com.)

Allan was also a student and disciple of the great Japanese bonsai master, Yuji Yoshimura, and always chose to live among trees. Donations in his memory can be made to Memory Trees www.ArborDay.org.

After the death of Jane, his wife of over 40 years, Allan entered a dark period, from which he was rescued by Joyce Cunningham, his loving companion and life partner. He is survived by Joyce and numerous friends in advertising and the arts. His renowned collection of bonsai trees, donated to The Bronx Botanical Gardens, also lives on after him.