Mary Winpenny

Publishing Figure MARY WINPENNY Mary V. Winpenny, for 35 years an active and visible figure in the local radio, publishing and real estate industries, died at home of cancer in Hawaii Kai on Thursday. She was 63. Winpenny moved to Honolulu with her husband, adman Jim, in 1972 and began selling radio time with KUMU Radio, then KPOI-KHSS. Being a newcomer, she was assigned "direct" accounts (sales not placed through ad agencies) and prowled, on foot, the side streets of Kakaako, Mapunapuna and Kalihi, befriending small-business owners who since have grown their companies or climbed corporate ladders to positions of significance in the community. In 1976, she switched media and became Marketing Director for Hawaii Business Publishing Company under the tutorage of industry icons Ethel and Joe Murphy. Hawaii Business then-editor Bill Wood left that company in 1984 to create Hawaii Real Estate Investor, and Winpenny joined him to direct marketing efforts for the new publication. In 1986, Investor was purchased by Honolulu Publishing Company and Winpenny was named publisher. She created the annual Investing in the Environment Awards in cooperation with the Hawaii State Department of Health. With the cooperation of the Hawaii Health Care Association, she created and published Hawaii Healthcare News as a quarterly supplement. She created and published the quarterly Hawaii Global-Tech News supplement. She created the annual Neighbor-Island Chamber of Commerce Awards. In 2002, her magazine was sold to competitor Pacific Basin Communications and disbanded, and Winpenny turned to real estate, joining Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties in 2003. Stricken with breast cancer in 1986, she had undergone a mastectomy, recovered, then earned a Black Belt in Karate and became active on the board of the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure as well as a mentor for other women in her profession similarly stricken. She had been cancer-free for 20 years. She also was active on the boards of Hawaii Special Olympics, The Outdoor Circle and the erstwhile Honolulu Press Club. When the Press Club disbanded in 1990, Winpenny encouraged fellow professionals to begin congregating at Murphy's Bar and Grill, and established a warm friendship with Don and Marion Murphy. (A plaque has marked her favorite booth at the Downtown restaurant that reads ALWAYS RESERVED FOR MARY WINPENNY. Murph says he does not intend to remove it.) Mass will be said at Star of the Sea Church in Waialae-Kahala on Saturday, May 12, at 1:00, followed by a an informal party at Murphy's. No flowers, please.