By Jack O'Dwyer
Jean Way Schoonover, 90, who with her sister Barbara Way Hunter acquired Dudley-Anderson-Yutzy PR in 1969, died April 3 at her home in New York.
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D-A-Y at that time was the oldest, continuously operating PR firm in the U.S. It was founded in 1908.
BusinessWeek in 1976 included the sisters in a listing of the top 100 women in business. At that time, it was the only PR firm in the top 25, as tracked by the O’Dwyer Co., that was operated by women.
The sisters sold the firm to Ogilvy & Mather in 1983 and Schoonover became president of Ogilvy PR.
Hunter PR was founded by Barbara Hunter and others in 1989. The firm had $12 million in fees in 2010 and 72 employees.
Headed YMCA
Among significant events publicized by D-A-Y were the staged retaking of Fort Ticonderoga by descendents of the Ethan Allen Boys prior to the country’s Bicentennial celebration, and the 100th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge.
After her retirement from Ogilvy in 1991, Schoonover was elected president of the YWCA of Greater New York, a post she held for the next three years.
Jean Isabelle Way was born on September 22, 1920 in Richfield Springs, New York, the daughter of Dr. Walter D. and Hilda G. Way. Shortly thereafter, the family moved to Westport, New York, where her father opened a veterinary practice.
She attended Westport Central School and entered Cornell University at the age of 16, graduating from the College of Arts & Sciences in the Class of 1941 with a Bachelor’s degree in English. After graduation, she taught high school English for two years at Castleton-on-Hudson, NY, and then moved to New York City. She took a temporary job as a ticket seller for the Pennsylvania Railroad and stayed in that post until the end of World War II.
Schoonover then pursued a writing career, becoming an editor for Food Field Reporter, a publication for the food manufacturing industry, where she met her future husband, Raymond Schoonover, the advertising manager.
She left in 1949 to become an A/E at D-A-Y, eventually becoming a vice president. When two of the original partners died, she and her sister bought out the third partner. Several male executives left, taking their accounts with them, but the firm thrived under Schoonover’s management.
Trustee of Cornell
Schoonover was a trustee of Cornell University from 1975 to 1980, and became a lifetime member of the Cornell University Council. At the time of her death she was president of the Class of 1941. She was a board member of the YWCA of Greater New York from 1991 to 2005.
Schoonover was the recipient of several awards, including the national Headliner Award from Women in Communications in 1984, the Matrix Award from New York Women in Communications in 1980, and the Entrepreneurial Woman Award from the Women Business Owners of New York in 1981. She was a charter member of the Committee of 200 and a member of the YWCA Academy of Women Achievers.
Survivors Listed
The Schoonovers were married in New York on October 28, 1950. Raymond Schoonover died in November, 1992.
Schoonover is survived by their three children, Katherine Schoonover of New York City, Daniel Schoonover of Kinderhook, NY, and James Schoonover of St. Paul, MN, her sister, Barbara Hunter of Walpole, NH, and four grandchildren, Abigail Straus, Kevin Schoonover, Derek Schoonover, and Jack Schoonover.
A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, April 30th, at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, at 10th Street and Second Avenue.
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