Previously of Johannesburg, South Africa, and New York City, Aubrey Balkind, age 81, passed away in Ojai, California, surrounded by family on Thursday May 15 after a long battle with vascular dementia. An innovative thinker and highly creative businessman, he grew up in Johannesburg, S.A. where he graduated as a Certified Public Accountant from Witwatersrand University and, with a loan from an uncle, made his way to Columbia University in New York, where he earned an MBA.
Working as a management consultant with Arthur Young, his true love was the creative process. While having a go at photography he met renowned graphic designer Phil Gips. The two formed Gips+Balkind as a partnership to create entertainment and corporate communications with Phil responsible for design and Aubrey for business and finance. With the addition of Steve Frankfurt, the firm evolved into Frankfurt Gips Balkind and then Frankfurt Balkind, with a staff of over 160 people and offices in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco -- one of the very first integrated communications agencies.
With Aubrey’s business knowhow he won the prestigious Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and with his ability to communicate brilliantly with CEO’s he was also able to push clients’ creative boundaries. This enabled the agency to attract the most talented and forward-thinking designers and writers, winning every industry creative award and dozens of barrier breaking projects such as the launch of CNN, the dayglow Time Warner 1989 Annual Report, the name and identity for Adobe Acrobat, the graphic identity for ESPN, the revitalization of Grand Central Terminal in NYC and the Los Angeles Getty Museum, and iconic movie posters such as Rosemary’s Baby, Alien, Forrest Gump, and Titanic, winning more Key Art Awards than any other agency. Upon Frankfurt Balkind New York’s acquisition, Aubrey moved to Los Angeles to work together with Peter Bemis who had led that FB office, now with the name Bemis Balkind which was subsequently acquired by In Sync.
Aubrey now could pursue what he had long sought: looking inward at himself and outward towards a society he felt was off-track and too consumer oriented. He moved from Los Angeles to Ojai, California, where he met like-minded kindred spirits that inspired him to renovate an old theater downtown and turn it into a modern event space focused on healthful living called the Sane Living Center. Guests are welcomed into that space by his EVO3 sculpture which tells the story of humanity's evolution from biological to egotistical to algorithmically motivated beings.
At Aubrey’s side when he died were his life partner Carol Cilliers Blaschke of Ojai, his son Devin Balkind of New York City and his former wife and business partner Harriett Levin Balkind of New York City. A small impromptu service for him was held with some close Ojai friends the evening of his death.
Larger memorial events will be announced in Ojai and New York. Aubrey is survived by his son Devin Balkind, daughter-in-law Hyun Jeong Park and granddaughter Kiju, his brother Jeffrey Balkind and wife Francoise, nephew Marshall and niece Emma. His parents, now deceased, were Sydney and Miriam Balkind of Johannesburg, South Africa.