FORREST FLAGG OWEN

1918 - 2014

Owen, Forrest Flagg

Sept. 5, 1918 - April 23, 2014

Forrest Owen, 95, died at Mission Hospital, Laguna Beach after a brief illness. He was born in Philadelphia, PA, the son of Forrest Flagg Owen Sr. and Ruth Mayo. He grew up in Battle Creek, MI, where he was a state champion swimmer. After graduating from Michigan State University in 1941, he worked as an announcer and production manager for several Midwest radio stations. In 1944 he began a 22-year career with the Wade Advertising Agency representing Miles Laboratories in Chicago with radio shows such as Quiz Kids. On March 14, 1946, he married Mary Lee Greene and relocated to Hollywood as the agency radio producer for Lum and Abner, Queen for a Day, and One Man's Family, and later in New York City with television productions featuring Garry Moore, Robert Q. Lewis and John Daley. In 1952 he auditioned and hired the late Dick Beals to be the voice of advertising icon "Speedy Alka-Seltzer."

From 1966 to 1975 he served as a regional vice president in Chicago, NYC and Minneapolis for BBDO Advertising, before retiring to Dana Point. Since that time he served as a management and communications consultant in Orange County; worked in Saudi Arabia and Indonesia with the International Executive Service Corps; served as a director and trustee of the South Coast Medical Center; and was active in neighborhood and community civic organizations.

He is survived by his daughters, Kathy Lee Sorensen (Mark), Decatur IL and Drusilla O. Rowden (David), Monrovia CA; former son-in-law, Randi Coulthard (Arlene Margulis) San Diego, CA; granddaughters, Jennifer Raleigh (Ryan), Decatur IL and Erika Sorensen (Samuel Smith), Centennial CO; and great-grandchildren, Owen Raleigh, Grace Raleigh and Wallace Gabbert Smith. He was preceded in death by his father, mother, sisters, Elizabeth Owen and Margery Fallon; beloved wife, Mary Lee; and daughter, Judith Ann Coulthard. Donations in his memory may be made to the Ocean Institute of Dana Point, CA.