James Cole, 77: Wordsmith, advertising executive

"He was such a gifted writer with an ability to communicate what needed to be said," said Dick Henderson of Mexico Beach, Fla., who founded an Atlanta advertising agency with Mr. Cole in the late 1960s.

Mr. Cole started out in the mailroom of McCann Erickson, a New York advertising and marketing firm. He worked his way up to copywriter.

In the 1960s, he moved to Atlanta to run the creative department at McCann Marshalk, an affiliate of his New York employer. There, he met his future wife the first day on the job. She was Marshalk's assistant art director. Maybe that's partly why he took the position. For both, it was love at first sight, she said.

"No doubt about it," his wife said. "We had 45 and a half years together. Of course, that wasn't enough."

James "Jim" Payson Cole of Marietta had been ill with what may have been the swine flu, but was on the road to recovery. Then, a secondary infection set in. His lung collapsed. He died of pneumonia on Dec. 8 while in intensive care at St. Joseph's Hospital. He was  77.  A private celebration will be held at a later date. Cremation Society of the South is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Cole was born in Cannes, France, but moved to New York with his family when he was six weeks old. He grew up in New Jersey.

After five years at McCann Marshalk,  he became the creative director for Cargill, Wilson &  Acree, which was opening an Atlanta office. He eventually wanted to strike out on his own. He found a kindred spirit in Mr. Henderson.

At one time, Mr. Cole had been Mr. Henderson's boss at McCann Marshalk. They'd teamed up on freelance projects, too.

In 1969, they started an ad agency and brought in John H. Drake for his  marketing know-how a year later.  Cole Henderson Drake became a highly-regarded agency that, through 1998, handled national and international accounts for clients such as the Ritz-Carlton Hotels.

"Our objective was to be one of the best creative shops in Atlanta,"  Mr. Henderson said.  "He was a writer; I was an art director. We had a common goal because we wanted to spend our lives doing work we enjoyed, and that's exactly what we did."

Besides reading, Mr. Cole did volunteer work at Good Mews, a cat animal shelter where he adopted pets like the current family felines, Felix and Dori. When he was well into his 40s, he learned how to ride a horse, then played polo for a while.

"He played two seasons," his wife said. "He really took to that."

Additional survivors include three sons, Jeffrey Cole of Marietta; Christopher Cole of Columbia, S.C. and Steven Cole of  Toronto, Can.; and one grandchild.