 Mary Frances Fagan |
Mary Frances Fagan, who served in the American Airlines corporate PR department for 23 years, died Feb. 4 of complications from brain cancer. She was 63.
Based in Chicago, Fagan crafted and implemented PR activities in key AA markets such as Boston, Washington, St. Louis, Washington and Los Angeles. She also was assigned to handle key projects in for key London and Tokyo.
Fagan left the airline in 2014 to launch Fagan Communications.
She began her career as statehouse bureau chief for WUIS-FM in Springfield, IL. That experience led to the political realm. Fagan served as assistant press secretary for Illinois Governors Jim Thompson and Jim Edgar.
Thompson told the Chicago Tribune that Fagan “was able to combine smart policy with a wonderful attitude toward people.”
She was a friend to hundreds and understood friendship better than most, said Thompson.
A memorial service is being planned for April.
Frank Ramos, who headed the PR department for the doomed-to-fail New York Jets for 39 years, died on Jan. 27. He was 87.
He practiced PR for 70 years. We were friends for 30. Here's the wizard I knew.
Andy Stanton, who was director of finance at Stanton PR, died Nov. 12 in New York. He was 39.
Kassie Canter, a media and entertainment PR veteran, died October 24 in New York. She was 67.
Leo Pearlstein, the “king of culinary PR,” died on Sept. 10 in Los Angeles at the age of 104.
