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Mary JOLLIFFE Obituary
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Memories and Condolences
for Mary JOLLIFFE
2 Entries
Eleanor Goldhar
November 27, 2014
Dear Mary:
I am writing to say thank you. You may not remember me, but you were my very first media and public relations mentor and teacher when I got my first PR job at Hart House Theatre in the mid-1970s. It was the Sesqui-centennial Season and Molly Thom was the producer of the summer series. Jan Bessey ran the operations and box office and I don't remember the others who were on staff at the time.
Why am I saying thank you? Because the many lessons you taught me are the “rules” I still follow and teach my many younger colleagues about how to work with the media, to get your words into print (and now into all digital formats) and how to position your institution. It is amazing that the basics you taught me about so many things are still the smart, successful guiding principles that work. Not only have I used your wise insights and training all through my career, but I have taught them to others in many places (Canada, the US and Britain primarily).
Although my intention was to get my PhD at the Graduate Centre for the Study of Drama at U of T (which I did), rather than teaching drama, I ended up working in communications for my entire career (media and public relations, marketing, branding, digital/web communictions). I left academia for the Royal Ontario Museum, the Ontario Arts Counsel, SOCAN, Livent and ultimately moved to the US to work for the 92nd Street Y. I am now Deputy Director and Chief of Global Communications for the Guggenheim Foundation (we operate the museums in New York, Bilbao, Venice and soon – Abu Dhabi). Between Livent and the Guggenheim, my career has taken me around the world.
And all of this is very much thanks to the very solid foundations I built under your stewardship.
I will always be very grateful to you. And as my very wise mother always said, it is never too late to say thank you.
My sincerest thanks and deep sense of loss.
Eleanor Goldhar
catherine hennessey
November 12, 2014
I have been involved with Confederation Centre since the beginning and so I remember Mary's contribution well in the very first days of the place. Mavor Moore brought her here because of her special abilities. i am working on the alumni list of the Centre and I will certainly be sure she is in it.
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