Dr. Lewis G. Pringle

Lewis Gordon Pringle, an advertising research executive and educator, passed away on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, in Framingham, Massachusetts. He was 83 years old.

Born on February 13, 1941, in Lansing, Michigan, Lewis was the son of Gordon Henry Pringle, a geologist with Marathon Oil, and Lucile Roxana (Drake) Pringle, a department store manager then homemaker. Along with his sister Mary, Lewis grew up in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he attended public schools.

A dedicated Boy Scout, he became an Eagle Scout and participated in the 1957 National Boy Scout Jamboree in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.  Lewis’s love of the outdoors, sparked during his early Scouting years, continued throughout his life.  He hiked sections of the Appalachian Trail with friends and family, summited Mount Katahdin with his sons, explored the Cairngorms in Scotland with his grandchildren, and even climbed Cook’s Look on Lizard Island in the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.

Lewis graduated from Wiley High School, Terre Haute, Indiana in 1959 before earning a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Harvard College in 1963. He continued his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, completing a Master of Science in Industrial Management in 1965 and a Doctor of Philosophy in Econometrics in 1969.

In 1963, Lewis married Joan Lois Winer. The couple had three children: Lewis Gordon Pringle Jr., William Davis Pringle, and Thomas Benjamin Pringle.

Upon completing his doctorate, Lewis was hired by Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BBDO) in New York City, where he pioneered the use of computer modeling in advertising market research, and the family moved to Dix Hills, Long Island, New York.

In 1979, he remarried, exchanging vows with Linda Carol Norum. They settled in Greenwich, Connecticut, and when BBDO, DDB, and Needham Harper merged to form the Omnicom Group in 1986, Lewis was promoted to Chairman of the European Region.  This position led him, Linda, and his son William to Bourne End, England, where he guided the new global advertising entity’s European operations.  This was a period of profound transformation in Europe with the fall of the Soviet Union, giving him a front-row seat to the momentous events that liberated much of Eastern Europe and ushered in freedoms long enjoyed by the rest of the West — an experience that led to many stories he would later share with his family.

Retiring from the advertising business in 1991, Lewis moved to Liberty, Indiana, to be near extended family. He continued his lifelong passion for teaching as the Joseph Seibert Professor of Marketing, at the University of Miami, having previously held a faculty position at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon University.

Lewis married Suzanne McCarthy in 2007.  They resided in Liberty until 2015, when declining health prompted a move back to the East Coast to be closer to younger family members.

In addition to his professional achievements, Lewis was deeply devoted to his family and his faith. A lifelong Methodist, he regularly attended church, and his commitment to family and faith remained a guiding force throughout his life. He was also proud of his Scottish and Cornish ancestry, making trips to visit relatives overseas, explore genealogical discoveries, and celebrate the culture and history that shaped his family.

Lewis is remembered for his passion for learning, his pioneering spirit in marketing research, and his unwavering dedication to his family.

He is survived by his three sons: Lewis Gordon Pringle, Jr (Simone), William Davis Pringle, Thomas Benjamin Pringle (Carolyn); his six grandchildren: Patricia, John, Elizabeth, Robert, Benjamin, and Amanda; his three great-grandchildren: Jackson, Harvey, and Vivien.  Lewis is predeceased by his beloved wife, Suzanne.

He will be greatly missed by his family, friends, and former colleagues, who will forever cherish his memory and the legacy he leaves behind.

The funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, January 25, 2025, at Holt United Methodist Church, 2321 N. Aurelius Rd., Holt, MI. Interment will take place at 12:00 p.m. at Deepdale Memorial Gardens. His family will receive friends at the church beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday.