Thomas Scott Cadden

Mr. Clean gets rid of dirt and grime and grease in just a minute – or so the well-known advertising slogan goes.

The man who created that jingle, which debuted in 1958 and has been on the air periodically ever since, died Friday of complications of pneumonia.

Thomas Scott Cadden, a graduate of Kansas University, pictured right, wrote the well-known words in 1957 when he was working for Tatham-Laird and Kudner Advertising Agency in Chicago, his son Tim Cadden said.

“It was his song, they used it so long,” Tim Cadden said. “It was an accomplishment he was really proud of.”

Though the Mr. Clean commercial was the most well-known, it wasn’t the only commercial he helped write while working for various ad agencies. He also wrote songs for Head and Shoulders and Pringles commercials.

“He was always doing music when we were growing up,” Tim Cadden said. “We just knew he was doing music.”

Proctor and Gamble, makers of Mr. Clean, asked Thomas Cadden to come back from time to time to consult on his creation.

A graduate of KU’s School of Journalism, Thomas Cadden came back to Lawrence often, Tim Cadden said. He died in Glenview, Ill.