Sergio Zyman is a Jewish marketing executive from Mexico best known as the marketer behind the failed launch of New Coke now regarded as one of the greatest marketing blunders of all time. A cover story in Fortune Magazine from May 1, 1995 referred to New Coke as the biggest marketing blunder since the launch of Ford's Edsel. New Coke was a reformulation of the original Coca-Cola flavor. After significant consumer opposition the original flavor was reintroduced in just 77 days. As per Fortune Magazine's 1995 cover story: " Zyman, then head of U.S. marketing, was coming off his enormously successful introduction of diet Coke when he was assigned day-to-day responsibility for top-secret Project Kansas in 1984. The zealous Mexican insisted that Coca-Cola must act boldly to reverse its 20-year market-share decline vs. Pepsi. Zyman, a former Pepsi marketer, argued that the correct strategy was to replace 98-year-old Coke with a better-tasting cola, label it New Coke," and blare the news--which is exactly what the company did one decade ago this April. [More at Wikipedia]

July 30th, 1945 in Mexico City (Age 78)