We received an email or two last week letting us know that Cliff Freeman & Partners' fifth floor office on West 20th Street in NYC was vacated. Now, AdAge confirms what we believed to be true, that after 22 years, the man behind Wendy's "Where's the beef?" and later Little Caesars' "Pizza Pizza" is shutting down his agency.

2009 wasn't too kind to CF&P, which reacquired MDC's 20% stake earlier this year but lost clients like Snapple and Bonefish Grill as well as CEO Clayton Ruebensaall III after just five months. In a statement to AdAge, Cliff Freeman's most notable current client, Baskin-Robbins, said it is "aware that Cliff Freeman & Partners has closed its doors. We have a search under way for a new agency partner."

More: "We Hear: ECD Tom Christmann Left Cliff Freeman"