PETER DAILEY

1930 - 2018

DAILEY--Peter H.

Entrepreneurial advertising executive, former United States Ambassador to Ireland, public servant, and family man died suddenly on Saturday, March 10, at his home in Pasadena, CA. He was 87 years old and charmingly irascible to the end. Dailey was devoted to his country. He was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Ireland by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 and served until 1984. Concurrently, in 1983 he served as President Reagan's Special Envoy to NATO member countries for intermediate nuclear weapons public diplomacy. He also served as a member of the Special Planning Group of the National Security Council. Dailey also was appointed by President Reagan as National Chairman for the 40th Annual Celebration of United Nations Day, and in 1988 he served as co-chairman of an international observer group to oversee the national plebiscite on President Pinochet in Chile. From 1985-1989, Dailey served in the Central Intelligence Agency as Counselor to the Director William J. Casey. He was appointed by President Reagan, confirmed by the Senate, and reaffirmed by President George H.W. Bush as a member of the General Advisory Committee of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, a post he held from 1987-1994. Born in New Orleans, Dailey graduated from UCLA where he played rugby and football, including in the 1954 Rose Bowl, truly a highlight of his life. He was later inducted into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame. After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1954-1956, ending his service as a Lieutenant, he started in the mail room of a Los Angeles advertising agency. In 1968, realizing the mailroom was better off without him, Dailey founded Dailey & Associates Advertising; later the Dailey International Group. In 1983, Dailey International merged with the Interpublic Group of Companies, then the world's largest holding company for advertising agencies, and Dailey was named Vice Chairman and Director. At the time, Dailey International Group was the largest international advertising agency headquartered in the western United States, with offices in the U.S., Asia, and Europe. Throughout his advertising career, Dailey took occasional leaves of absence to answer the call to public service, serving as Deputy Director of the 1972 and 1980 Presidential campaigns of Presidents Nixon and Reagan, respectively, and for President Ford in his 1976 Presidential Primary. He also served as a Special Consultant to the State Department from 1980-1981. After stepping back from the public sector, Dailey began his career as a corporate director and board member. He served as a Director or Trustee of Chicago Title and Trust Company, the U.S. National Park Foundation, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., the Young President's Organization, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the American Irish Foundation, The Century Council, the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis; and the Lady Bird Johnson National Wildflower Research Institute, as well as the international advisory boards of Cement Roadstone Holdings PLC (Ireland) and Waterford-Wedgewood (Ireland). He served as both President and Director of the World President's Organization. Always an ardent UCLA Bruin, he served as Director of the UCLA Alumni Association and on the Board of Overseers of UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management, and is a founding trustee of the UCLA Foundation. In his spare time, Dailey and his beautiful wife of 63 years, Jacqueline, raised five children. He is preceded in death by Jacqueline. Left behind are his loving, devoted family including Michael Ann Ewing (Jim), Sydney Jean Dailey, Peter H. Dailey Jr., Elizabeth 'Biz' Dailey (Scott Allen), Patricia Dailey Hayes (Richard) and grandchildren Christopher Ewing, Peter Davis Dailey, and Kathleen, Jack and Margaret Hayes. A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday, March 20 at 10:30am at Holy Family Catholic Church, South Pasadena, with a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles, 920 East Alhambra Road, Alhambra, CA 91801.