Ad Exec With Cancer, Given 'Two Weeks To Live,' Posts Self-Written Obit On The Day Of His Death

Mike Hughes, the former president of The Martin Agency, died today after a long and public battle with cancer. He was 65.

Initially diagnosed with lung cancer in the 1990s, Hughes was given "two weeks to live" by his doctors last January.

Hughes declined to go quietly. Instead, he began a blog called "Unfinished Thinking" to chronicle his battle.

Read Mike Hughes' life lessons >

Today, his last post was published. It begins:

After many unexplained delays, I have finally lived up to my prognosis and have at last departed this life. It's been a life I've loved.

In the months leading up to this moment, I was astonished at the outpouring of love and caring and respect from hundreds of people. There were handwritten notes, emails, blog posts, comments, letters, magazine articles, personal visits and phone calls. The tsunami of glorious thoughts sent my way has made it increasingly hard to justify my deep insecurity about my place in the world-an insecurity I've clung to all my life.

I want to take this last opportunity to clear up one common misjudgment in the oft-repeated, highly exaggerated list of my virtues. Many of you have credited me with humility. That's not even close to true.

You can read the rest of it here.

When we first learned that Hughes was blogging his fight with cancer back in May, we made this post from his blog of his regrets in the industry and some of the lessons he learned, and paired them with pictures of his journey as an agency and family man.