Iconic graphic designer Milton Glaser, known for his wildly popular “I ♥ NY” logo, died Friday on his 91st birthday.
His death in Manhattan was confirmed by his wife, Shirley Glaser, who said he had suffered a stroke and renal failure, The New York Times reported.
Glaser, born in the Bronx to Hungarian immigrant parents, was known for a joyous and retro style that helped him shape the visual identity of American popular culture, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s.
He was also co-founder, with Clay Felker, of New York magazine, where he served as president and design director until 1977.
Glaser designed the “I (Heart) NY” logo, with its red heart on a white background, for a 1977 campaign promoting the state as a tourism destination. It remains omnipresent in tourist gift shops, known to every visitor to the United States financial capital.
“What Milton Glaser gave to New York will long survive him,” the state’s governor Andrew Cuomo said on Twitter.
“I (Heart) New York was the perfect logo at the time he created it and remains so today,” Cuomo stressed. “We lost a brilliant designer and a great New Yorker.”
