Terry Scott Heckler, visual artist and advertising legend, was part of a small group of modest creatives at the center of the 1970s Seattle Renaissance. He shared much of his talents and gifts with many folks and was committed to family, friends, art, music, football, and advertising. Terry passed away May 5, 2026, after a struggle with dementia. Until recently, he spent most of his time at his beloved farmhouse on the Hood Canal, painting every day in his studio, enjoying a retirement lifestyle, walking the gardens at Oyster Point, and celebrating time with family. Heckler headed up a small advertising agency and was sought after by some of the most recognizable companies and brands in the Northwest and throughout the country. His unique and humorous approach to television, print and radio advertising made memorable impressions on viewers, competitors and others in the advertising world. His business serviced clients in advertising/communications, logo design, naming systems and brand development for start-ups and established companies.

Terry founded the company in 1969 with another Seattle legend, Gordon Bowker, writer, entrepreneur and co-founder of Starbucks. For the first six years the company was known as Heckler, Bowker. Heckler, Bowker's first client was Cunningham's, a tennis and ski shop founded by Jack Burg. This quickly led to picking up K2 Skis as a client, run by Bill and Don Kirschner, brothers living on Vashon Island. K2 remained a loyal account for decades. Other early clients included JanSport, founded by Murray Pletz and Janis (Jan) Lewis, and New Balance, a shoe company purchased by Jim Davis in 1972. Terry was hired to design the New Balance logo, which began years of design, packaging, advertising and branding work. While the agency built their clientele, Heckler and Bowker began working on logos and packaging for Gordon's own start-up coffee business, which he founded in 1971 with Jerry Baldwin and Zev Siegel. At that time, Heckler, Bowker had four employees, operating out of a tiny office at the old Pier 66 along the Elliot Bay waterfront. Terry designed the original mermaid/siren Starbucks logo and art directed the redesigns and evolutions of the logo mark. The name Starbuck started with an earlier name, Pequod, which was the vessel in the classic novel, Moby Dick. Terry mentioned to his friend Gordon, that nobody will want to drink a cup of Pequod coffee. Later while they were researching an old map of mining camps at the base of Mount Rainier, a mislabeled camp, Starbo, stood out, which led to the word Starbuck. Ironically, Starbuck was 1st mate on the Pequod.

Bowker eventually left the firm in 1976 to concentrate on his own business ventures including Starbucks, which he ran with Baldwin and Siegel for 16 years until Howard Schultz began a new era in 1987.

In the late 70s, Terry changed the name of his advertising agency to Heckler Associates. His team never exceeded twenty full-time employees, and a few dedicated associates worked for him for well over thirty years, including Doug Fast, graphic designer, Joann Weiss, bookkeeper/office manager and Rob Humphrey, graphic designer.

Heckler Associates design and communications were instrumental in many start-ups, and re-brands. Cinnabon, Coinstar, Qdoba Mexican Grill, SeaBear Smokehouse, Sage Fly Fishing, Fran’s Chocolates, Ivar’s, PF Flyers and Panera Bread are a few local and national companies that Heckler Associates had a part in brand building.

Rainer Beer, a local Seattle brewed beer, was a lagging brand in 1974. Jim Foster, head of marketing, took a gamble on hiring the small ad agency (Heckler, Bowker). He had seen their groundbreaking offbeat ads for K2 Skis. A decades-long relationship began. Hundreds of TV commercials were produced for Rainier Beer, as well as radio spots, print ads, billboards, posters and packaging. The high-impact, unconventional 30- second TV spots bucked the trends of the intentionally neutral and bland commercials of the era. They combined a "conceptually aligned" mixture of "absolute product signals” and clever parody. At the center of the campaign were giant beer bottles with legs, known as Mountain Fresh Rainiers. A fan favorite TV spot married the ambient sound of a motorcycle shifting gears with the phonetic syllables, Raaaaaii-neeeeeer-beeeeer. The copious creative ads, which embraced the brand's Northwest-ness rather than appealing to global norms, ran for 12 years in 6 states and were more eagerly anticipated than the TV shows they were sandwiched between, cementing what came to be thought of as the Northwest/Seattle sense of humor and sensibility. Terry Heckler grew up in a small coal mining town in Western Pennsylvania where his early East Coast roots fed interests in art, music, and football. Studying the violin at age nine and switching to the upright bass in high school, he played in the local symphony orchestra where he met his future wife and mother of his children. While in high school he played quarterback for the Windber Ramblers and accepted a football scholarship to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Later, he and his wife moved to Canada where he received a Master of Applied Science from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. While finishing his degree, his first child, Talese Heckler was born.

In 1966, Terry was first employed as a perception research analyst in a computer graphics division of the Boeing Company in Seattle. A few years later, in 1968, he landed a spot at Seattle Magazine as art director for editor David Brewster where he met future collaborators Gordon Bowker, Ed Leimbacher, and freelance photographer Frank Denman. In 1971, while building Heckler, Bowker, his second child, Tye Heckler was born.

Terry’s unusual background in music, art, and sports helped shape and develop an emphasis on the importance of the team. He was a born quarterback, with his name on the door, but the group was crucial: Heckler Associates, not Heckler AND Associates. He didn’t seek publicity for himself or the company. His reputation was as mysterious as his quiet lifestyle. He liked to fly under the radar, and as a result, most adages attributed to Terry come from former employees, collaborators and journalists who wrote hundreds of articles over the years.

An art and advertising guy, a communications man, Terry’s life’s work is featured prominently in the 2024 documentary Rainier: A Beer Odyssey. Directed by Isaac Olsen, produced by Justin and Robby Peterson, and associate producer and Heckler legacy ambassador, Talese Heckler.

Terry is survived by his children: daughter Talese Heckler, son Tye Heckler, daughter-in-law Tress Heckler, grandchildren Sam Waller and Nia Heckler, and his sister and brother-in-law Tana and William Frece and their families.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donations in Terry’s name to Seattle Public School Art Programs (The Creative Advantage), or Cloverdale (CA) Education Foundation/CARE cusdcare.org

- Care Entrusted to Emmick Family Funeral Home Lake View -