Barbara Way Hunter, APR, Fellow PRSA, a pioneering PR executive and longtime PRSA member and leader, passed away on Dec. 18 at her home in Walpole, N.H. She was 97.
Hunter served as PRSA’s president (now chair) in 1984. In 1993, she received PRSA’s highest individual honor, the Gold Anvil.
Born in 1927 in Westport, N.Y., Hunter’s career in the communications profession spanned over five decades, blazing a trail for women on Madison Avenue and advocating for the power of women as both business leaders and important consumers.
Beginning her career in journalism with a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, Hunter transitioned to public relations by working at Sally Dickson Associates, one of the first women-founded firms in New York City.
She later joined her sister Jean Schoonover at the Madison Avenue agency, Dudley-Anderson-Yutzy (D-A-Y). In the face of a leadership vacuum upon the founders’ retirement, the two women, affectionately known as the “Sister Act” in the industry, stepped in and acquired the firm in 1969, becoming the first women to buy, own, and lead a national PR agency.
Hunter’s journey in advocating for women began here. Her first move as principal of D-A-Y was to ensure equal pay for both men and women at the firm. This decision led to the departure of all but two male agency leaders, who took their corporate clients with them. The sisters revitalized the company with clients emphasizing women’s often-overlooked — yet rapidly growing — purchasing power in the 1970s and 1980s.
Ogilvy & Mather purchased D-A-Y in 1983 and named Hunter vice chairwoman of the PR practice. In 1989, Hunter reinvented her career at age 62 and founded the eponymous agency known as HUNTER.
The agency established the Barbara Way Hunter Trailblazer Award at PRSA’s New York Chapter, where she had served as president, to recognize other trailblazing women in the PR profession.
According to her obituary on the HUNTER website, “Hunter served as a role model, mentor and inspiration to generations of communications professionals, leading by example with intelligence, grace, confidence and an irrepressible work ethic but also with kindness, empathy and a wry sense of humor.”
During a Women’s History Month celebration last year with the Museum of Public Relations, Hunter offered the following counsel for young women in the profession today: “Be true to yourself and to whoever you’re working with. Also, be kind; I think it’s important that people treat other people with respect and kindness.”
Hunter is survived by her daughters, Kimberley W. Hunter of Washington, D.C., and Victoria Gohl of Walpole, N.H., her son-in-law Mattias Gohl of Walpole, N.H., and four grandchildren, Mara Zimmerman, Ezra Zimmerman, Samuel Gohl, and Hans Rudolf Gohl. Her husband, Austin F. Hunter (married in 1953), sister, Jean Way Schoonover, and brother, Walter D. Way, preceded her in death.
Donations and tributes in Hunter’s name can be made to the PRSA Foundation or the Museum of Public Relations.
