Steven Wells Hicks

Steven Wells Hicks was born in Omaha, NE, attended Benson High School in Omaha; Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH; and then studied creative writing, directing and acting in summer stock theater at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA.

Steven began his professional career as a newspaper sportswriter in the mid-west, then came south to work in advertising. He embraced the Deep South and the business -- and both embraced him back. Hicks’ advertising career spanned 40+ years, and was based, primarily, out of Atlanta, GA, and Jackson, MS, as well as New York City, and the Cayman Islands. Beyond those locales, he produced advertising in Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.

Steven specialized in consumer advertising and business-to-business accounts, as well as political consulting and research. He created a significant amount of pro-bono work for nonprofit organizations and arts-based entities, and was recognized for his distinctive style of print advertising, television and radio production. He served as a copywriter, producer and creative director for multiple advertising agencies. Various firms over the years had his name on their front doors, included Spruill & Hicks; Steven Wells Hicks, Writer & More; Hicks, Lyons & Partners, and Davis & Hicks Research.

In his non-working hours, Hicks enjoyed acting at New Stage Theatre, hosting his own radio talk show as the character Spats Brannigan, and later serving on the Board of Directors and Conductor Search Committee for the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra.

Hicks was often called ‘a Renaissance man’, an intellectual, driven by curiosity and learning, fascinated by history, literature, politics and public opinion. Self-taught in many subjects, he enjoyed his studies of art, architecture, design, filmography, music (he played the piano, harp, cello and banjo), golf, food, cooking, writing and travel.

His love of travel began in the early 1960s, during a full summer when he and his mother toured Europe. That interest grew year-by-year, furthered by a golf tour of Scotland in the 1990s, when he and his father spent two weeks playing the classic courses across the old country. He made numerous trips to London, and considered it his favorite city in the world.

As a professional, Hicks appreciated collaborating with top talent. He had a love of words, a lushness of language, a richness of rhythm, and a cadence that made his writing renown throughout the region. He had an innate ability to quickly and succinctly drill down and uncover core issues related to nearly any marketing problem. Known for his gruff exterior, Steven also had a soft side, a gift that allowed him to put pen to paper and touch hearts.

Over the years, a major portion of his advertising income came through his work as a political consultant, engineering media and messaging efforts for more than 70 campaigns, culminating with a POLLIE Award for best statewide/national commercial from the American Association of Political Consultants and Campaigns & Elections Magazine.

Hicks was named nine times as Mississippi’s top copywriter, and once as art director of the year. He was awarded Best of Show seven times and took home, over the years, several hundred ADDY Awards from the American Advertising Federation. Hicks won six certificates of excellence in the International CLIO Awards, Radio Mercury honors, and was included in Who’s Who in American Advertising. At the point when he quit entering competitions, Steven was the most-awarded advertising professional in the state of Mississippi.

Once he no longer entered awards competitions, Hicks focused on celebrating the successes of his professional mentees and protégés. Steven was said to be a hard teacher and taskmaster but was also most supportive and encouraging.

Throughout his career, Hicks was told time and again that he should write a book, to which he would reply, “maybe one day,” until the day came in 1997 when a near-fatal stroke forced him to confront his own mortality, and he realized he wanted to be remembered for something more consequential than commercials.

Hicks called each of his years after 1997 a gift, and these years became a new and distinct chapter in his life.

Ten years and eleven revisions later came his debut novel, ‘The Gleaner’, which was named a quarter-finalist in Amazon.com’s prestigious “Breakthrough Novel” competition. Upon its heels came two comic novels, ‘The Fall of Adam’ and ‘Horizontal Adjustment’, later followed by ‘Destiny’s Anvil’. In 2009, Coe College, his alma mater, brought him back to campus to lecture, discuss and read from his first two novels.

In 2012, The Mississippi Arts Commission awarded Hicks one of two Literary Arts Fellowships, which allowed him the time, funds and opportunity to focus upon his work as an author. Beyond his novels, Steven also published seven annual New Orleans Dining Guides, all of which became mainstays on Amazon.com’s 100 top-selling books about world dining.

Hicks moved to New Orleans in 2014, with his wife, Lil McKinnon-Hicks, a jewelry artist/designer. In New Orleans, he served for several seasons as trivia master at The Crown & Anchor English Pub, where his love of sharing odd little factoids and unusual information brought him much delight.

In recent years, he began to better appreciate the fact that all the world craves an audience, which afforded him the opportunity to sit back, listen to and enjoy the contributions of others. As an introvert, Steven didn’t care all that much for small talk, preferring instead the quiet of his own workspace or time spent with a dear friend or two over a morning cup of coffee. 

Steven took great pride and joy in his daughter, Cecily, and also in his granddaughter Bridget, who he referred to as “the most perfect granddaughter in the world.” He also took considerable delight in his 30-year marriage to Lil. In describing their years together, he said he “finally got it right, after a few false starts.“

Steven Hicks passed away in New Orleans. He was preceded in death by his parents, Curtis D. and Dorothy L. Hicks of Omaha, NE. He is survived by his wife Liliclaire of New Orleans, LA; daughter: Cecily (Jeff) Stevens and granddaughter Bridget of Atlanta, GA; brother: Paul (Jane) Hicks of Omaha, NE; and nephews, Cliff Hicks of San Jose CA, and Curtis (Melissa) Hicks of Omaha, NE.

Due to COVID and other current health concerns, a celebration of Hicks’ life with friends and family is planned in New Orleans in the spring of 2021.

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