Ad Biz Buzz King Silenced - George Lazarus has left the building.

Chicago Tribune columnist, George Lazarus, who's been covering the local ad scene for almost 40 years, was found dead on his commuter train Friday morning, September 8th. He was 68. A tireless power luncher, scene maker, and schmoozer, the lengths to which he'd go for a scoop are legendary.

He combined this passion with an encyclopedic knowledge of the ad biz and its players to make his daily column required reading (the sooner the better). His buzz resonated in agency halls throughout the city. Its absence will be deafening come Monday morning.

For more about the passing of this phenomenon, click here.

Lazarus was a native of Worcester, Mass., and in 1954 he graduated with a bachelor of business administration from Clark University. In 1957, he received a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University, according to the Tribune.

Before working at the Chicago Tribune, Lazarus worked at the Chicago bureau of The Associated Press until 1959 and then worked as editor at Printer’s Ink magazine. In 1961 he moved to the Chicago Daily News and then moved again eight years later to Chicago Today. Lazarus joined the Tribune in 1972, where he developed one of the first marketing columns in the nation.

While working at the Tribune, Lazarus wrote for Adweek’s Marketing Week and the New York Daily News. In addition, he wrote “Marketing Immunity” in 1998 and was a business commentator.