Adrian Paul Lichter

28 September 1941 - 10 December 2023 Adrian Paul Lichter, 82, of Toronto, Canada, passed away on 10 December 2023 at Mount Sinai Hospital after a battle with cancer. He was born on 28 September 1941 to noted composer, conductor and violinist Charles Lichter and singer and pianist Dorothy (Ballou) Lichter in New York, NY. Raised in the Riverdale neighbourhood of the Bronx, Adrian attended the prestigious High School of Music & Art, majoring in the study of the clarinet. Though classically trained, Adrian developed a tremendous interest in jazz, particularly the work of trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Bill Evans. Adrian would go on to work with Evans in the late 1960s, commissioning from the pianist an original composition for a Crest toothpaste television commercial. Evans went on to record the song (entitled ‘Comrade Conrad’) on his Grammy-winning 1971 Columbia Records release “The Bill Evans Album.” Graduating from Tufts University in 1963 with a B.A. in Liberal Arts, Adrian earned an M.A. from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania in 1964. During the second half of the 1960s, he fulfilled his Vietnam-era Selective Service requirement by performing monthly with the Air National Guard Band in Texas. Adrian married Montreal-born Ann Henderson Giffin on 17 December 1966 at Grace Anglican Church, Sutton, Quebec. Their only child, Peter Campbell (né Lichter) was born in New York City on 09 October 1972. Permanently residing in the Carnegie Hill neighbourhood of Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Adrian, Ann and Peter (and Adrian's beloved bichon frisé Beau) enjoyed many years as second homeowners in the Berkshires region of western Massachusetts. Beginning his career as an assistant at the CBS television show “Candid Camera,” Adrian spent seventeen years as a producer for advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather. A protégé of advertising visionary David Ogilvy, Adrian produced campaigns for national and international clients (Procter & Gamble, Maxwell House, AT&T, Sears, Mattel), rose to the rank of Executive Producer and Vice President and was honoured with several Clio Awards during his tenure. Establishing a successful freelance career in the 1980s, Adrian enjoyed successful and long-term assignments with The Arnell Group, RDA International and Vigilante. His diverse list of clients included DKNY, General Motors, Heineken, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Snapple Beverage Group. He lectured in the Media Communication Arts Program at the City College of New York and co-authored (with Edward Keller) “Producing Broadcast and Print Advertising: Commercial Production and the Generalist” (Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2012). While continuing commercial production work after moving to Toronto in 2013, Adrian found a new hobby: acting. Working primarily with The Bella Agency, he parlayed his years of experience in casting sessions into several national and online commercials as well as a featured role in the 2018 CNN-produced documentary “Three Identical Strangers.” Adrian was a lifelong tennis player and devoted viewer, a cook, a classical music and jazz aficionado and a “dyed-in-the-wool” Democrat with a keen interest in politics. As his colleague Larry Woodard commented, “[Adrian] had a dry sense of humor that matched his deadpan gaze and drew frequent comparisons to Larry David of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ He loved the business. He loved all of us, and we loved him back. Rest in peace, my friend.” Adrian is survived by his wife of 57 years, Ann Lichter of Toronto; his son, Peter Campbell, of Toronto; sister Bonnie Lichter (Paul Reese) of New York City and Port Henry, NY; and brother William Lichter (Jane) of Cincinnati, OH.

Adrian Paul Lichter

December 10, 2023