Washington Heights' Connection To 'See Something, Say Something'

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — "If you see something, say something" is a phrase emblazoned into many New Yorker's mind, but did you know the person that thought of it grew up in Washington Heights?

Legendary advertising executive Allen Kay died on Nov. 27 in his New Jersey home at the age of 77, but his life started in the Bronx and Washington Heights.

After being born in the Bronx, his family made the move to Upper Manhattan.

He spent his middle school years in Washington Heights, before making the move to Fair Lawn, New Jersey for high school.

While Kay made a name for himself throughout the advertising world for his Super Bowl commercials and other national campaigns, he made his most widespread impact for New York City with the slogan he crafted after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

As reported in a New York Times obituary for Kay published on Friday, shortly after the 9/11 attacks the MTA enlisted him and his company to help "make people all over the world more security conscious."

After a process of elimination that rejected such slogans as "If you see a package without a person, don't keep it yourself," along with, "Be suspicious of things that look suspicious," the final slogan of — "If you see something, say something" was reached.

Posters with the slogan first appeared in the New York City subway in 2003, one week before the American invasion of Iraq began, the New York Times reported.

“I’m proud of what it’s done and the potential it has to do more,” Mr. Kay told The Times in 2010.

You can read the full New York Times obituary on Kay on its website.