Gordon Bowker, an influential Seattle entrepreneur who co-founded Starbucks and Redhook Brewery, has died at age 82.
Bowker, who lived in Seattle most of his life and died there Thursday, left an indelible mark on the city’s business community and the industries he was a part of, from coffee to beer to advertising.
The advertising firm Bowker started with his business partner Terry Heckler was behind the iconic Rainier Beer ads of the 1970s and 80s, some featuring croaking frogs and others half-human, half-costumed beer bottles with legs. Heckler also designed the original Starbucks mermaid logo, displayed on the company’s first store on Western Avenue near Seattle’s Pike Place Market, in 1971.
Bowker helped launch Seattle Weekly, wrote restaurant reviews and co-founded a real estate de