Chick-fil-A’s longtime corporate communications chief, Don Perry, died suddenly on July 27 as the company remains enmeshed in a PR storm over anti-gay marriage remarks by its president.
Perry |
Reports out of Atlanta suggested Perry, VP of corporate comms. for the fast food company, suffered a heart attack.
Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A said in a statement that Perry was a member of the company for nearly 29 years. “For many of you in the media, he was the spokesperson for Chick-fil-A,” the company said. “He was a well-respected and well-liked media executive in the Atlanta and University of Georgia communities, and we will miss him. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
Press inquiries are being directed to the company’s PR firm, Jackson Spalding of Atlanta.
Funeral arrangements for Perry are to be announced by Gregory B. Levett & Sons Funeral Homes & Crematory, Decatur, Ga.
Perry said last week that Chick-fil-A’s “intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena,” adding that the company’s “culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender.”
Perry joined Chick-fil-A in 1983 after nine years at General Electric. He was president of the PR Society’s Georgia chapter in 1993.
Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy sparked a backlash this month when he told a religious news outlet that “we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage."
Supporters of the franchise are organizing an “appreciation day” Aug. 1.