Emma J. Pavleck, Advertising Manager, Dies at 67

Emma Pavleck, left, vacationing in 

Colorado with her cousin, Lisa LaGoo

The New York Times

By Luke Huckabee

Published: February 1, 2057

Emma J. Pavleck, an advertising manager famous for Pavleck & Pavleck (P&P) car care products, died Saturday in her home in Minneapolis. She was 67.

The cause was inhalation of cocamide diethanolamine, a toxic chemical that was being introduced to improve the quality of the product, said Regan Hanson, who was Ms. Pavleck’s cousin.

Ms. Pavleck’s career started after graduating from Bemidji State University in 2012 with a degree in marketing communication. She soon went to work for Toyota Motor North America located in Torrance, Calif. Ms. Pavleck was put in charge of the ad and promotion campaigns as well as projects manager.

In 2015, Ms. Pavleck left her position in Torrance for Chrysler Headquarters and Technology Center located in Auburn Hills, Mich. “The position as advertising manager was a very big step in her career,” recalls Logan Pavleck, her younger brother. “She had found her niche in the automotive advertising industry, and she ran with it.”

After eight years with Chrysler, Ms. Pavleck left the company. “I got restless and wanted to do my own thing,” she said in 2051 at a fundraiser in Seattle. “It had always been a dream of mine to start my own company and after years of working for someone else, I thought to myself, why not now?”

A year later in 2024 at the age of thirty-one, Ms. Pavleck went into business with her brother Logan Pavleck. Mr. Pavleck graduated from the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor with a degree in chemical engineering. “With my knowledge in chemical engineering and Emma’s knowledge in sales and marketing, it seemed like a fool-proof move,” said Mr. Pavleck.

Ms. Pavleck, her husband of five years, Jack Lewis and their three children, Henry, Liam and Addison, relocated to San Francisco, Calif. “My family and I followed six months later,” Mr. Pavleck said. “Emma found a location for the business and started to get our name out there, while I refined the formulas.”

Within the next five years, P&P replaced many big name brands on the shelves of auto parts retailers. “The first two years were tough on us, but things changed fast in the third year and the products just took off,” Mr. Pavleck recalled. “By our fifth year we knew we would be retiring early from P&P; It was a complete success.”

“I never dreamed P&P would grow to the size that it did. It was just supposed to be a small car care business,” said Ms. Pavleck, during an interview with David Letterman in 2034. “I feel very fortunate. I owe most of the success to Logan; I could not have asked for a better business partner.”

Emma Jean Pavleck was born in International Falls, Minn., on July 2, 1990. She was the oldest of two children of Todd and Patricia (Miller) Pavleck.

Ms. Pavleck grew up in a rural area with her parents and her younger brother Logan. “We didn’t have any neighbors with children, so the kids became very close because they were all each other had as far as playmates went,” said Patricia Pavleck, her mother.

“Emma told me several times that she loved growing up here (International Falls),” commented her father, Todd Pavleck. “Since she was a baby, she loved going fishing with me and spending time in the outdoors. She tried to get up to our cabin in Canada as much as she could.”

Ms. Pavleck also did a lot of traveling. Having been to Europe many times, she became fluent in German and Mandarin Chinese. “It’s all she talked about when we were younger. She loved where she came from, but she also wanted to get out and see the world,” said Ms. Hanson.

“She was obviously very successful in the business world,” stated her mother. “She loved her job, but her true passion was her family and sharing the world with them.”

Ms. Pavleck is survived by her husband of 38 years, Jack Lewis; two sons, Henry, of Los Angeles, Liam, of Minneapolis; a daughter, Addison Johnson, of San Francisco; her parents, Todd and Patricia (Miller) Pavleck, of International Falls; a brother, Logan, of Minneapolis; a sister-in-law, Olivia (Anderson) Pavleck; seven grandchildren; and nieces and nephews.