Marilyn Laurie, Former AT&T PR EVP, Earth Day Co-Founder, Dies at 71

Marilyn Laurie, former AT&T executive vice president of public relations and brand management and one of the founders of Earth Day, died on July 14th at age 71.

Her role in helping launch Earth Day–she was in charge of communications–led to a freelance assignment to write an environmental supplement for the New York Times, which gave way to a job offer from AT&T, where she was assigned in 1971 to create environmental education programs for the company’s employees.

She went on to become first woman to join AT&T’s 10-person executive committee, and was also chair of the AT&T Foundation, where she oversaw more than $40 million a year in grants to educational, social service and arts institutions.

She left AT&T in 1998 to form Laurie Consulting, Inc., which developed branding and public relations strategies for corporations and non-profit organizations.

Laurie received her undergraduate degree from Barnard College and her MBA from Pace University.

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