Public relations innovator Barbara Way Hunter '49 leaves a legacy of leadership, from serving as the women's editor of The Cornell Daily Sun to founding her own firm. She died on Dec. 18 at the age of 97.
Hunter is known for her champion career in public relations as the founder and former chief executive officer of HUNTER PR, established in 1989. The public relations firm executes marketing campaigns in the media for top companies. One of the earliest companies to partner with HUNTER was Tabasco -- still a client of the firm today.
Hunter was born on July 14, 1927, in Westport, New York. She attended Westport Central School, where she graduated as valedictorian of her 1945 class. Hunter's connection to Cornell began before she was born. Her grandfather of the Class of 1885 was the first in her family to attend Cornell, and her parents met while attending the University, according to Hunter's daughter, Victoria Gohl '83.
Hunter graduated with a B.A. in government from the College of Arts and Sciences in 1949. As an undergraduate at Cornell, Hunter was greatly involved on campus, including at The Sun and in Greek life.
In her sophomore year, Hunter was rejected from The Sun staff. Reflecting on this experience in her grandson's 2019 documentary A Life in PR, Hunter said "I was disappointed, but perhaps realized I hadn't worked hard enough." She applied a second time and became an official Sun staff writer, authoring pieces to be featured in the women's section.
Hunter was named the women's editor from 1947 through 1949. Prior to World War I, The Sun did not feature women on the editorial board. By 1919, the role of "women's editor" was introduced to oversee and edit stories written by women and featured in women's-only sections of The Sun.
"[Hunter] claimed that her work on The Sun was what taught her true journalistic writing and secured her her first job in New York City at the Food Field Reporter," wrote Gohl in an email to The Sun.
Hunter was also named president of her sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, in 1948. Gohl wrote that KKG "gave [Hunter] a social circle and home base on campus."
Following her Cornell graduation and premier jobs, Hunter started her public relations career at Sally Dickson Associates -- an early woman-founded firm in New York City -- as a liaison between clients and the agency as an account executive. Shortly after, she became a food account executive at Dudley-Anderson-Yutzy, a public relations agency founded in 1908.
Prior to establishing her namesake agency, Hunter became president of D-A-Y when she and her sister, Jean Way Schoonover '41, bought the agency in 1969. Nicknamed the "Sister Act" in the industry, Hunter and Schoonover were the first women to own and lead a national public relations agency, according to Hunter News.
At 62 years old, Hunter founded the New York-based public relations agency HUNTER, which continues to be a thriving communications firm.
In all of her leadership roles, Barbara worked to champion equality in the workplace. Her first move as principal of D-A-Y was to establish equal pay for both men and women in the firm, according to The Public Relations Society of America.
"My mom was a living example that you could do what you wanted as a woman if you just did the work," Gohl wrote. "She believed if the work was good, you would rise."
Hunter continued to influence the public relations field later in her career. She served as president of the New York Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America in 1980 and became the national president of PRSA in 1984. For her role in paving the way for women in the industry, along with active leadership and commitment to the society, Hunter was awarded the PRSA Gold Anvil Award in 1993.
Throughout the same period, Hunter became a member of the Cornell Board of Trustees, which she served on from 1980 through 1985. Due to her role on the board, she not only attended Gohl's graduation ceremony -- she was also a part of it, which Gohl recalls as a very meaningful experience.
In 2023, HUNTER established the Barbara W. Hunter Trailblazer Award at the PRSA-NY to acknowledge pioneering women in the communications field.
Hunter was a role model for many, including the current CEO of HUNTER, Grace Leong. Leong considered Hunter her "work mom," and said, "By giving her time and talent, Barbara set the most extraordinary example of hard work paying off," in a 2017 interview with The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations at The University of Alabama.
Beyond her career, Hunter is remembered for her heartfelt hostessing, around-the-clock knitting and firm belief in family. Gohl recalled, "Her work meant that she traveled -- China, Japan, Hawaii, Tunisia, Europe, all over France -- and wherever she went she learned how to make the food and served it to us at home!"
Hunter died at her home in Walpole, New Hampshire, surrounded by her loved ones, including her daughters Kimberley Hunter of Washington, D.C. and Gohl of Walpole. Her family requests that, in memory of Hunter's revolutionary work in the communications industry, donations be made in her honor to the PRSA Foundation or The Museum of Public Relations.
In 2019, Hunter's grandson, Rudi Gohl, directed and filmed a documentary entitled A Life in PR as a project that followed Hunter's life and career.
In the documentary, Hunter spoke fondly of her time at Cornell, saying "I found myself in a community of people that were interesting -- it was a great next step in my life."
Jane Haviland '28 is a Sun contributor and can be reached at [email protected].