Bob Marston
Bob Marston

Bob Marston, who built Robert Marston And Associates and Marston Strategic Communications, died July 14 of respiratory failure. He was 86.

He began his career in 1959, as an apprentice at Rowland Company. He exited Rowland in 1968 as senior VP, and subsequently joined Rogers & Cowan, where he managed the firm’s corporate office in New York.

Robert Marston And Associates, which first specialized in marketing communications, opened in 1970. It added corporate communications, investor relations and public affairs capabilities to serve its growing list of clients.

That client roster included corporate giants Procter & Gamble, Campbell Soup, Citigroup, American Airlines, Chrysler Motors, AT&T, Home Depot, Pepsi-Cola, Ernst & Young, John Hancock and General Motors.

RM&A also handled nonprofit organizations such as New York City Ballet, the Juilliard School, the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell, the New York Blood Center, Audubon Society, Nature Conservancy and the Conservation Fund.

In 2014, Marston opened Marston Strategic Communications to design and implement strategic corporate and financial communications programs.

Marston is survived by wife, Maryann, and sons, Robert and Bradford. Memorial services will be held at Our Lady of Poland Church in Southampton on July 20.