Obituary of Keith E. Lockhart

SOUTH THOMASTON — Keith Elsworth Lockhart, 81, passed away peacefully Feb. 6, 2015, at Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport. Born in New York City April 18, 1933, to Leslie and Juanita Lockhart, Keith grew up in Harlem, along with his sisters, Jacqueline Lockhart Banks and Joan Lockhart Rolle. Following six years in the Air Force, where he quickly rose to the rank of navigator, Keith graduated from Fairleigh Dickenson University with a degree in English and went on to the Yale School of Drama, where he studied playwriting. He had a long and successful career in advertising. He began as a copywriter at J. Walter Thompson, joined E.T. Howard as its first black creative director, worked at Foote, Cone and Belding and ultimately formed Lockhart & Pettus, one of the early African-American-owned advertising companies, with partner Ted Pettus. He worked with clients ranging from Chrysler, Pepsi, Clairol, Wendy’s, Dark & Lovely, KFC, Glory Foods, Panasonic, Magic Shave Cream, Centers for Disease Control and Con Edison to the U.S. Army. He developed a teen anti-smoking campaign posted in more than 50,000 schools nationwide, and later worked as an adjunct professor of advertising/marketing and management at Saint Peter’s College in New Jersey. An accomplished trumpet player and knowledgeable fan of both jazz and classical music, Keith was also a voracious reader and an avid tennis player, enjoying the game with friends in the Chip & Racquet club and with his family. He loved the theater and continued to write plays throughout his life. A proud and loving father, he is survived by his wife of 34 years, Ellen Jorgensen, and his five children, Theodore with spouse Emi Lockhart (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Julian with spouse Jenifer Schembri (Myakka City, Fla.), Eric (New Haven, Conn.), Annalise (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Sonja (Palo Alto, Calif.). Among his many nieces and nephews, Keith had a special and close relationship with his niece Juanita Troy Harris. He had served on the boards of the Black Tennis and Sports Foundation, The Drawing Center and the Glaucoma Foundation. In lieu of flowers, and in recognition of the important role of tennis throughout Keith’s life and the value he placed on education, contributions in his memory may be made to the Harlem Junior Tennis Education Program, c/o Harlem Armory Center, 40 West 143rd St., New York, NY 10037 or on their website at HJTEP.org