PEGGY BURTON

BURTON--Peggy, 87, a renowned New York advertising executive, documentary film producer and art collector, whose pioneering career spanned over seven decades, died peacefully on July 24 in her home at the Metropolitan Tower surrounded by her daughter, Linda Burton and her granddaughter Tara Isabella Burton. From an entry-level position with Young & Rubicam in the 1960s where, as a woman, she was denied admittance into its executive training program, she persevered and went on to build a successful career as a senior account executive at Daniel & Charles Advertising, as the Director of Advertising & Communications for American Express and as Senior Vice President of Advertising for The Dreyfus Corporation as well as President of its in-house advertising agency. Prior to entering advertising she was a successful model and freelance television producer in New York from the 1940s through the early 1960s. After her retirement from Dreyfus in 1994 she returned to film producing and was the assistant producer of the Emmy Award winning documentary "The Mystery of the Sphinx" while establishing a world-wide consulting practice on web-based marketing. Until her death she continued to be an active member of numerous boards and organizations in New York, including Business Executives for National Security, the Fine Arts Club, the Dutch Treat Club and the New York Athletic Club and served weekly as a volunteer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Peggy's indefatigable energy, intellectual curiosity, love of dancing, and joie de vivre continued even in her final decade: from studying history at Oxford University to mastering the tango in Buenos Aires. A life-long traveler on Cunard's transatlantic ocean liners, Peggy was proud to have "never sat out a single dance" on those weeklong voyages, even during her final November crossing.