Steve Hayden, of Bellport, copywriter for Apple Inc.'s iconic '1984' ad, dies at 78

With the swing of a sledgehammer, both literal in the TV commercial and figurative in the advertising world, Bellport’s Steve Hayden helped change an industry, and with it, culture at large. The copywriter of Apple Inc.’s iconic spot "1984” — which aired during the Super Bowl on Jan. 22, 1984, and never again except in news reports of its extraordinary impact — Hayden died at NYU Langone Hospital—Suffolk, in Patchogue, on Aug. 27. He was 78.

Ill for years with a variety of ailments, he died of natural causes, said his longtime companion, Kristina Allen.

Inducted into both the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Fame and The One Club’s Creative Hall of Fame, Hayden was "a great creative director but also a wonderful writer who had a great ability to capture the essence of a problem and put it down into a nugget and then lead teams" to execute the concept, said fellow Advertising Hall of Famer Rick Boyko, a friend since their days together at the agency Chiat/Day.

For "1984," which topped Ad Age magazine’s list of TV’s greatest commercials the following decade, that team included director Ridley Scott ("Alien," "Blade Runner") and Chiat/Day’s creative director, Lee Clow, and art director, Brent Thomas. Like the Volkswagen campaign of the 1960s that launched a sea change with its self-spoofing "anti-advertising," the 60-second "1984," with its stark but stylish depiction of a fascist dystopia and a rebellious woman, and no depiction of a product, "sparked a different take on how to do a spot," Boyko said, and opened the gates to a flood of cinematic creativity.

In addition to his professional accomplishments for such clients as American Express, IBM, Kodak, Motorola and Dove, with that company’s landmark "Real Women" campaign, Hayden was "very mentoring" to copywriters coming up through the ranks, said Boyko, of Bedford in Westchester County.

Journalist and former advertising executive and producer Sandi Bachom said Hayden "was beloved for his kindness and his brilliance." The two had met during a commercial shoot while both were at the agency BBDO. The director of that spot habitually "would pick somebody on the crew and just eviscerate them," she said. "And I was the one he picked, during a really vulnerable time in my life. And I didn’t even know Steve, but he saw how I was suffering and he took me to this diner and gave me these hard truths" about the advertising industry. "It changed the course of my life."

Born May 21, 1947, in St. Charles, Missouri, Stephen Edward Hayden was the youngest of four sons of physician Ralph Orville Hayden and Gertrude A. Neubeiser Hayden, a former opera singer. He moved with his family to San Jose, California, while still an infant.

After graduating in 1964 from the Interlochen Center for the Arts boarding school in Interlochen, Michigan, where he later would serve on the board of trustees, Hayden earned a bachelor’s degree in English in 1968 from the University of Southern California.

Following a copywriting stint at a Detroit agency, he returned to California, co-wrote a 1976 episode of the sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter," then reentered advertising. His professional milestones included opening Chiat/Day’s New York City office in 1979, and later serving as chief creative officer of BBDO in Los Angeles and as vice chairman and chief creative officer of Ogilvy & Mather, now simply Ogilvy, which brought him to Manhattan in 1994. Hayden retired in the early 2010s.

He and Allen, a fellow retired advertising executive, bought their summer and weekend home in Bellport around 2002, Allen said, and they gradually began living there full-time. Hayden owned a 36-foot Grady-White sportfishing boat he docked in East Patchogue.

"He was an intellectual guy and a funny guy," she said. "He devoured books to put himself to sleep at night and watched a lot of historical stuff" on television. Until his health worsened, Hayden enjoyed swimming, and the couple hiked and took walks in Long Island parks and the South Shore’s Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge. "And he loved video entertainment — movies, streaming stuff, some TV shows. He enjoyed consuming things," she added lightheartedly.

Hayden’s 1967 to 1973 marriage to Nancy A. Ferguson ended in divorce, as did a subsequent marriage to Anne Taylor.

In addition to Allen, he is survived by a brother, David Hayden, of Rancho Palos Verdes, California.

Hayden was cremated and no service was held. A memorial is planned for the fall.