Steve Hayden, of Bellport, advertising creative director, dies at 78

With the swing of a sledgehammer, both literal in the TV commercial and figurative in the advertising world, Bellport’s Steve Hayden helped change an industry, and with it, culture at large. The copywriter of Apple Inc.’s iconic spot "1984” — which aired during the Super Bowl on Jan. 22, 1984, and never again except in news reports of its extraordinary impact — Hayden died at NYU Langone Hospital—Suffolk, in Patchogue, on Aug. 27. He was 78.

Ill for years with a variety of ailments, he died of natural causes, said his longtime companion, Kristina Allen.

Inducted into both the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Fame and The One Club’s Creative Hall of Fame, Hayden was "a great creative director but also a wonderful writer who had a great ability to capture the essence