Barbara Hunter, public relations pioneer and founder of New York-based agency HUNTER, passed away on December 18 at the age of 97.
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| Barbara Hunter |
Born in 1927 in Westport, NY, Hunter started her career at Sally Dickson Associates, one of New York City’s first women-founded firms. She later joined PR firm Dudley-Anderson-Yutzy (D-A-Y). Hunter and sister Jean Schoonover eventually acquired the firm in 1969, becoming the first women to buy, own and lead a major national public relations agency.
In 1983, Hunter and Schoonover sold D-A-Y to Ogilvy & Mather, naming Hunter vice chairwoman of its PR practice. At the time of the firm’s acquisition, D-A-Y was considered the world’s oldest continually operating public relations firm.
At the age of 62, Hunter founded her eponymous agency, She retired in 1999 at the age of 72 and sold the agency to a group led by CEO Grace Leong.
Donations and tributes in Mrs. Hunter’s name can be made to the PRSA Foundation or the Museum of Public Relations.
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.
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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.
