Stephen Barcus, 68, wrote ads and TV scripts

Stephen Barcus, 68, of Narberth, a former Philadelphia advertising executive and Hollywood scriptwriter, died of a heart attack Nov. 12 at the Penn Valley home of his brother.

"Steve was a very gregarious, fun-loving guy," said his brother, Alan, "and he used to hold court on the beach at Great Point," near his rental home on Nantucket Island.

"Because he caught hundreds of striped bass, hundreds of bluefish, his greatest joy was to see somebody else catch a fish. . . . Enjoyed it as much as catching his own."

Mr. Barcus graduated from Central High School in 1959, and earned a bachelor's degree in speech and drama from Temple University in 1963.

Working from 1964 to 1970 as a copywriter for a Philadelphia advertising agency, the Weightman Group, Mr. Barcus developed TV and radio campaigns for such clients as Ortlieb's beer and Pennsylvania Dutch egg noodles.

After he joined the Lewis & Gilman advertising firm in 1970, Mr. Barcus developed the daily spot announcing the Pennsylvania Lottery numbers, his brother said.

Mr. Barcus wrote and produced Lewis & Gilman advertising campaigns, his brother said, for such firms as Campbell Soup Co., Domino Sugar, Tasty Baking Co., and Wyeth Laboratories. He later became the agency's senior vice president and creative director.

Ed Mahlman was a Lewis & Gilman account executive when he worked with Mr. Barcus. Mahlman is now chief marketing officer for Philadelphia Media Holdings, which publishes The Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.

Mahlman's appreciation of Mr. Barcus extends to when Mahlman was looking for the job that he eventually got with Mr. Barcus' agency.

"I had probably just come from grad school," he said yesterday, and at the end of a busy day, Mr. Barcus "took time as a kind of mentor and adviser, and I walked out . . . buoyed up."

Mr. Barcus was not involved with hiring, but Mahlman said, "My takeaway was, as a young person, I could have used an experienced person to give me that enthusiasm. And he did.

"My guess is that he did that many other times and he helped many other people."

From 1983 until 1989, Mr. Barcus lived and work in Hollywood, where, his brother said, he "created many advertising and promotional packages for major ad agencies and studios."

Mr. Barcus also wrote sketches for Bob Hope specials, and was an uncredited script doctor for TV series such as Trapper John, M.D.

When he returned to Philadelphia, his brother said, Mr. Barcus from 1989 to 1993 was an "independent creative provider" for the likes of Fox Chase Cancer Center, Bryn Mawr Hospital, and the Philadelphia Zoo.

Mr. Barcus joined Roska Direct Advertising in Montgomeryville in 1993. There, his brother said, he "created, supervised, and wrote direct-to-physician, direct-to-patient, direct-to-consumer programs for pharmaceutical manufacturers."

From 2005 to last year, Mr. Barcus was a consultant for firms such as Blue Diamond, an amusement park in New Castle, Del.

Mr. Barcus was a member of the Directors Guild of America. Since the 1970s, he had been a member of the Nantucket Anglers' Club.

Besides his brother, Mr. Barcus is survived by his wife, Susan Cole; a son, Michael; a daughter, Sarah Steinberg; stepsons Jason and Marc Cole; seven grandchildren; and his former wife, Roberta Barcus.

A Philadelphia funeral service took place Sunday. His cremated ashes will be spread on the waters off Great Point, Nantucket.