Ruth Edelman, who helped her husband, Dan, build the Edelman PR empire from a small Chicago start-up firm, died Oct. 20 in Chicago, following an eight-month battle with acute myloid leukemia. She was 84.
Her son, Richard, who is CEO of Edelman, called his late mother a "true partner" to Dan, visiting offices around the world and opening the door for new clients.
"She was the best new business person, finding a new CEO in town at a cocktail party, befriending him, then bringing Dan over to close the deal," said Richard. "She offered Dan advice on acquisitions or hires based on a superb intuition."
Dan predeceased her in January.
A Wisconsin native, Edelman earned an economics degree from the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison before moving to Chicago, where she met Dan and married in 1953. She was a deputy chairman of Daniel J. Edelman Inc. and an advocate for mental health issues, serving as patient advocate and philanthropist for the National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association and receiving the group's prestigious Jan Fawcett Humanitarian Award.
Following a private funeral in New York on Tuesday, a Chicago memorial service is slated for Oct. 24 at Temple Sinai (15 West Delaware Place) at 11 a.m., followed by shiva at the Casino Club (195 East Delaware Place).
Edelman is survived by her sister, Rosalie Aronin, sons Richard and John, daughter Renee, daughters-in-law Roz Edelman and Susie Krohn, and three grandchildren, Richard's daughters Margot, Tory and Amanda.
More on Edelman is at edelman.com.
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