MADRID—Jose Antonio Llorente, who co-founded the former Llorente y Cuenca—now known as LLYC—died on December 31 after a battle with cancer. He was 63.

Llorente founded Llorente & Cuenca in 1995 and built it into one of the largest independent public relations agencies in Spain, as well as one of the leading financial communications specialists in Europe, appearing frequently on the mergermarket lists of top M&A advisory firms. Over the past decade, LLYC expanded into Latin America, becoming a global force in corporate and financial communications and more recently in digital and content creation.

Last year, LLYC ranked number 40 on our PRovoke Media 250 list of the world’s largest public relations firms, with fees of around $78 million.

“Jose Antonio, known as JALL to the entire LLYC team, leaves us with a great legacy to nurture and grow,” says the firm’s partner and global CEO Alejandro Romero. “All of us who had the immense fortune of knowing, working with, and learning from him will always be grateful for his generosity, audacity, and brilliance, but above all, his kindness. This weekend, a great teacher, mentor, and friend has left us, but we are committed to making his powerful legacy even greater.”

Born in 1960, Llorente started his career with Agencia EFE and the CEOE communications department. Before creating his own firm, he served as the Spanish CEO of Burson Marsteller, which was the sector leader at the time. He launched LLYC in partnership with Olga Cuenca and grew it to become a listed company with more than 1,200 employees across offices in Europe (Spain and Portugal), Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and the Dominican Republic) and the US (Miami, plus a Latam Desk in both New York and Washington).

Llorente shared much of his experience in his book, “The Eighth Sense,” and in 2021, he was recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of the Complutense University Faculty of Information Sciences, where he earned his degree in Journalism.

Passionate about contemporary art and a collector of Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American pieces, Llorente was a trustee of the Museo del Barrio in New York, a member of the International Patronage Council of the Reina Sofia Museum Foundation, and a member of the Advisory Board of the ARCO Foundation, which named him Spanish Collector of the Year in 2024.

His philanthropic work also included his commitment to the LLYC Foundation, whose board of trustees he chaired until 2022, and his ongoing collaboration with the Spanish Association for the Fight Against Cancer.

He is survived by his wife, Irene, and daughter, Mara, as well as his mother and siblings.