Calcutta, March 1: Advertising guru Subroto Sengupta passed away in a city nursing home today. He was 85 and is survived by his wife and a daughter.

One of the founder directors of Clarion, Sengupta had also worked for &M and was consultant to The Johns Hopkins University and the Population Communication Services of the Union government. He was a successful teacher and wrote books on brand positioning and ad campaigns. He was visiting faculty at the Indian institutes of management in Calcutta and Ahmedabad.