Martin Wallach; ad man coined Big Mac catchphrase

In the 1970s, ad man Martin Wallach coined the phrase "two-all-beef-patties-special-sauce-lettuce-cheese-pickles-onion-on-a-sesame-seed-bun" to describe McDonald's Big Mac.

It became a national catchphrase, but only a few years earlier,Mr. Wallach had been a freshly minted English major just married andstruggling to find a job.

After his journalism major wife, Sharon, got a job as anadvertising copy editor, he thought, "I can do that," and marchedinto a Chicago advertising agency and landed an entry-level positionas a copywriter.

"That was totally his style. My dad had strong convictions andbelieved in himself," said his daughter, Laura Wallach.

Mr. Wallach, who went on to become a creative director at topadvertising agencies such as Leo Burnett and Foote Cone & Belding andlater founded his own firm, died Wednesday at his Bolingbrook homeafter suffering a heart attack. He was 60.

Born in Chicago, he grew up on the South Side and graduated fromSouth Shore High School. He went on to the University of Missouri atColumbia, where he met his future wife.

While neither of them had any intention of getting married soon,they were engaged a week after they met and married six months laterin 1965. The couple came to Chicago, where Mr. Wallach got his firstjob with Schramm & Associates.

Within a few years, he had worked his way up to the post ofcreative director at Leo Burnett, one of the largest agencies in thecountry. At Burnett and later at Foote, Cone & Belding, he helpedcreate advertising for Kentucky Fried Chicken, Hires root beer, PizzaHut and DieHard Batteries.

In the 1980s, he started his own firm and worked out of his home.He was most recently on the staff of Ken Slauf & Associates inLombard.

Mr. Wallach was an avid camper, hiker and fisherman as well as anaficionado of jazz, classical music and movies, which he played onstate-of-the-art equipment. He also had a fine collection of abstractart and self-published five volumes of poetry.

He liked to stay in shape and didn't let his camping tripsinterfere with his daily exercise routine.

"He would take an exercise mat along and exercise on thecampground. His friends would be totally laughing at him because hewas doing pushups on vacation," his daughter said.

Other survivors include his son, Michael, who is married toChicago Sun-Times copy editor Leeann Zouras, and a great aunt,Dorothy Levin.

Services have been held.