Ginger Atwood Ackerley

Ginger Atwood Ackerley

Ginger Atwood Ackerley, civic leader, businesswoman, wife, mother and grandmother, passed away early in the morning on January 5, 2018. She was 79 years old.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Mrs. Ackerley was a graduate of Kent Place School in New Jersey and went on to attend Duke University where she was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. After college, she was a model in New York City where she and her husband Barry met on a blind date. They were married in July of 1963.

Mrs. Ackerley and her young family initially settled in Lincoln, Nebraska, the first of many cities she and Mr. Ackerley moved the family to across America as their dynamic partnership and his entrepreneurial career grew.

In 1976, Mrs. Ackerley and her family moved to Mercer Island, WA when Ackerley Communications was founded.

In addition to being a dedicated wife and mother, Mrs. Ackerley immediately immersed herself in civic and community work. She joined the Junior League of Seattle and volunteered extensively with local non-profits including The Crisis Clinic and Resource Center for the Handicapped.

In the early eighties after she and Mr. Ackerley moved the family to Bellevue, while further immersing herself in numerous civic and community pursuits, Mrs. Ackerley pursued a long-held entrepreneurial dream when she opened a boutique women's clothier store - Carriage House Clothiers.

In 1987, Mrs. Ackerley was recruited by Mr. Ackerley to take a full time role in the corporate offices of Ackerley Communications to launch and chair Ackerley Corporate Giving, the philanthropic arm of the company. She led the development of a strategic initiative that contributed 6% of its annual gross revenues in cash and in-kind services to organizations like Northwest Harvest and numerous other non-profit agencies in

communities its business operations served all across America.

Mrs. Ackerley continued to demonstrate her leadership and vision to make our region stronger by serving as Chair for Pacific Science Center and ArtsFund (formerly Corporate Council for the Arts) in addition to serving on the Seattle Foundation Board of Trustees and being a founding member of the Washington Women's Foundation.

In 1997 she and Mr. Ackerley founded the Ginger and Barry Ackerley Foundation which is devoted to improving the lives and futures of northwest children.

Throughout the nineties and up until the sale of The Ackerley Group in 2002 to Clear Channel Worldwide, Mrs. Ackerley not

only continued to lead Ackerley Corporate Giving, she also played a critical strategic leadership role while serving as Co-President and Co-Chair of the company. It was during this period in 1999 when she founded and served as Chair of the WNBA's Seattle Storm.

Mrs. Ackerley was the recipient of many lifetime achievement awards. Among them were the Junior Achievement-Puget Sound Business Hall of Fame Laureate Award, the Washington Policy Center's Champion of Freedom Award, the Seattle Sports Commission's Paul G. Allen Award, the Washington Anti-Defamation League's Torch of Liberty Award as well as from the Corporate Council for the Arts (ArtsFund). She was also the recipient of the University of Washington 2017 Kappa Kappa Gamma Mary Maxwell Gates Award.

Mrs. Ackerley was a deeply devoted wife, mother and grandmother. She enjoyed boating in the Pacific Northwest with her family, spending summers on San Juan Island with her grandchildren and winters in the California desert with family and friends.

Mrs. Ackerley is survived by her daughter Kim Ackerley Cleworth, her two sons Christopher and Ted Ackerley and seven grandchildren, Henry, Atty, Charlie, Anabelle, Benjamin, Hunter and Ashley.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be directed to: Wellspring Family Services, 1900 Rainier Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98144.

A memorial service will be held:

February 2nd @ 10:30AM

Epiphany Parish of Seattle

1805 38th Avenue

Seattle, WA 98122