Obituary: Ogilvy’s Thomas William Bagot
On 16 December, at 4:29 a.m., Thomas William Bagot left this world’s earthly bonds. At just 60 years of age, Tom had succumbed to pancreatic cancer. His battle was short and brutal, yet courageous and dignified.
From the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, Tom worked at a number of San Francisco’s leading ad agencies, including Allen and Dorward, Ketchum, and Saatchi and Saatchi. At Saatchi, Tom worked on the Hewlett-Packard account. Tom was a natural writer and his talents developed a national reputation gaining the attention of executives at Ogilvy and Mather in New York City.
In 1998, Tom left his beloved Northern California to make it on Madison Avenue. He loved the city – its museums, restaurants, bars, yes, those too, and all New York had to offer. He also enjoyed the relatively close proximity to Europe, especially Paris, where he spent many of his happiest days.
A look back
Tom was born on December 18, 1957, at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, California, where many, many of his fellow Northern Californians started their lives. Tom attended Joaquin Miller Elementary School, Montera Junior High and Skyline High School, all in Oakland, California. Tom excelled at all sports, but he was particularly taken by sailing. He worked at John Berry Yacht sales on the Oakland/Alameda estuary to immerse himself in the sport he so loved. Here he learned to sail large and small boats, sometimes completing multi-day races off the coast of Northern California.
Tom Graduated from UC Berkeley in 1984 with a degree in English. He was the first of his generation to complete a family tradition of Cal grads dating back to the 1850s. After graduation, Tom turned his attention to advertising. His sharp intellect, relentless curiosity and scorching sense of humor made him a natural in this profession.
At Ogilvy, Tom came into his own and became a leading light of advertising creativity. Working under his mentor Chris Wall, a man who was also prematurely cut down by the scourge of cancer, Tom won every major accolade the advertising world has to offer.
For many, life would seem complete. But the very best was yet to come. While at Ogilvy Tom met an ascending young account executive named Laura Gentile who also worked on the IBM account. She was brilliant, athletic, funny and beautiful. For almost 40 years Tom had staunchly maintained his prized bachelorhood, but, at last, it had met its match.
Laura and Tom wed on August 9, 2003, at St. Ignatius Church in New York City. In a perpetual state of unlimited bliss their professional and domestic lives blossomed. Tom went on to become a Creative Director at McCann-Erickson and Laura joined ESPN where she began quickly climbing the ranks.
On April 24th of 2007, their first child arrived in the form of a boy, William Thomas Cesare Bagot. He proudly shares the combined names of the parents’ fathers. With the newly arrived baby, Tom and Laura settled in Old Greenwich. On April 23rd, 2015, they brought Beau Bagot into the world, followed by yet another wonderful boy, Blake Bagot, on April 7th of 2017. Now, as a family of five, they lived a truly blessed existence.
To say that Tom had it all, would, of course, be a monumental understatement. His brand of happiness was the type that provided easy, almost unlimited access. He lived for the small, special moments. He loved his home, his extended family, his three sons, who appear to have the athletic virtues he so valued, and most of all, the love of his life, his wife Laura. Most people would have to go outside this existence to be in the glowing, incandescent presence of their ideal. Yet Tom found her in New York, on the eighth floor of a Manhattan high-rise, no less, and he cherished every moment he spent with her. Tom Bagot was a lucky, laugh-filled, life-affirming man, who we all gained so much from. He will be missed so terribly, terribly much.
Tom is survived by his wife Laura Gentile, his sons Will, Beau and Blake Bagot, siblings Lisa Bagot of San Diego, California; Steve Bagot of Danville, California; and Rob Bagot of Corte Madera, California.
In lieu of flowers, the family created the “Magic Bagot Fund” to drive funds directly to the research into pancreatic cancer that is happening at Memorial Sloan Kettering. To learn how you can help in their effort to fight this disease, please visit: http://mskcc.convio.net/goto/TomBagot
A private family service will be held this Saturday (22 December). A larger celebration of Tom’s life will be held in Connecticut in mid-January.