GLOUCESTER: Abigail Seely Brown Cassidy, 72, best known by friends and co-workers as “Abby Cassidy” or “Abby Brown,” passed away Sept. 6, 2008, with family and friends by her side, in Gloucester, MA, where she resided the past 32 years.
Born in 1936 in Utica, NY, her family soon moved to Hamilton, NY, home of Colgate University. Ms Brown is the daughter of the late Dr. Alfred Seely Brown, Professor of Chemistry at Colgate, and the late Mary Abigail (Ring) Seely Brown, who oversaw the Music Room at Colgate’s Case Geyer Library.
Ms Brown attended Eden Hall, Convent of the Sacred Heart, Philadelphia and was graduated from Manhattanville College, Purchase, NY, class of ’57, with a B.A. in History and a year-round pursuit of Russian. During summer breaks, she attended Middlebury College’s Russian Summer School in Vermont. It was Abby’s passionate conviction that communication and understanding would solve “the current world problems,” many of which revolved around the Cold War & McCarthyism.
An intense advocate for global peace, social justice, and human, civil & women’s rights, Ms Brown moved to Manhattan NY, where she became Manager of Radio-Television Relations with the publishing firm New American Library (NAL) and its imprints Signet, Penguin, and Mentor. Under tutelage of “a strong female boss who expected women to be leaders & occupy executive suites,” Abby placed many best-selling authors such as William Faulkner, D. H. Lawrence and John Steinbeck on NYC radio & television shows.
While at NAL Abby envisioned the ground-breaking idea of creating “cross-country publicity tours.” Commonplace today, it was an unheard-of concept in that era. This would become her niche in life and cement her place in Media-Placement history.
Ms Brown married Mr. Thomas G. Cassidy in 1963 at the Church of St. Thomas More, New York, NY. Prior to moving to New York City, Mr. Cassidy, a WWII Veteran, was a writer and producer at KDAL-TV, and business magazine editor with Davidson Publishing Co., both of Duluth, MN.
In 1963, the two established CASSIDY-BROWN PUBLIC RELATIONS, INC. (now PUBLIC RELATIONS SERVICES, INC. (PRS)). President and CEO of Cassidy-Brown / PRS, Abby realized her vision of cross-country media tours, placing authors & their books, people & their ideas, and organizations & their causes throughout the country and around the world. Abby’s agency quickly became deeply involved in civil rights matters, anti-war movements, and publicizing social welfare concerns.
With Tom as researcher & writer, “Gabby Abby” gave the sales pitch and arranged radio, TV & newspaper coverage for well over half a million individuals (including Dr. Benjamin Spock, Isaac Asimov, Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders, Vladimir Posner, Margaret Mead, Charles Kuralt, Archbishop of Canterbury M. Ramsey, Studs Terkel); worked with over 100 publishers to obtain maximum exposure for books & authors; provided media coverage for over 300 organizations, including advocacy groups, trade associations, national church bodies, social service agencies and major public policy institutions.
Over four-plus decades of Media Placement, the name ABBY BROWN opened doors for speakers from: American Psychiatric Association, Center for Defense Information, the Episcopal Church in the U.S., Council for a Livable World, American Committee for Human Rights, United Methodist Church, White House Advisory Committee on Refugees, Union of Concerned Scientists, Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), Physicians for Social Responsibility, American Bible Society, Winston Foundation for World Peace -- and placed them on such media outlets as: New York Times, CBS Evening News, Jerusalem Post, BBC Television, Phil Donahue Show, NBC Nightly News, London Daily Times, Hearst Newspapers, ABC Nightline, CNN, Boston Globe, MacNeil Lehrer News Hour and Reuters, to name a scant few.
Locally, during the ‘80 & ‘90s, Ms Brown volunteered for numerous community groups and was on the Board of Directors for the: Addison Gilbert Hospital Auxiliary; Cape Ann Friend’s of the Symphony; Visiting Nurse Association of the North Shore; Cape Ann Feminists. Abby was also former Treasurer, Cape Ann Friends of the Visiting Nurse Association. During the late ‘70s Abby worked with local medical & community activists to include Fluoride in Gloucester’s public drinking water, and was instrumental in founding Gloucester’s former Planned Parenthood Center.
Ms Brown is predeceased by her former husband, Thomas G. Cassidy. She is survived by family members, her brother & sister-in-law, Dr. John Seely Brown, former Chief Scientist of Xerox Corporation & Susan Havilland; her daughter & son-in-law, Mrs. Constance Raynal Cassidy-Samson & George Alfred Samson; her cousin, Mrs. Constance Raynal (Seely Brown) Cliffe and husband, Fred Cliffe; by close friends, Mrs. Anna Mae (Huke) Fullerton & James Fullerton, Mrs. Joan Foster & family, Joseph Burns, Gerrit Lansing, all of Gloucester; numerous friends of Cape Ann & New York artist communities; friends and co-workers in the Media & PR field.
In keeping with her wishes, a private memorial service will be held at a later date. Abby’s love of cats is well known. In lieu of flowers, Abby wished contributions sent to Cape Ann Animal Aid, 260 Main St., Gloucester (www.capeannanimalaid.com) and Northeast Animal Shelter, 204 Highland Ave, Salem, MA, (www.northeastanimalshelter.org).