Paula Sullivan Dies; Public Relations Pioneer in S.D.

Paula Sullivan, a pioneer for women in public relations in San Diego, died of cancer Wednesday morning at Community Convalescent Hospital in La Mesa. She was 68.

In 1965, Sullivan was the first woman in San Diego to become an active member of the Public Relations Society of America. She also served as an executive director of the Advertising Club for many years until she resigned earlier this year.

In addition, she was known as the unofficial “den mother” of the San Diego Press Club, said Don Thompson, public relations columnist for The Communicator magazine. She was also chapter assistant for the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi.

“She was ‘Miss Public Relations’ in San Diego,” Thompson said. “She could do and would do anything that had to be done. One of her big contributions was that the media had confidence in her. They trusted her.”

Born in Arizona in June, 1917, Sullivan came to San Diego as a teen-ager to attend a local business college before joining the Women’s Army Corps in 1940. Returning to San Diego five years later, she became involved in public relations and opened her first office, Sullivan and Sample, in 1951.

“She told me they called it Sullivan and Sample because it had such a nice masculine ring to it,” Thompson said. “But she was not militant about it.”

In 1955, Sullivan left San Diego for Borrego Springs, where she worked as a writer for a local newspaper and as a publicist for the Chamber of Commerce. In 1958, she worked for California Gov. Pat Brown’s campaign.

After the election, Sullivan went to Los Angeles for several years, then returned to San Diego in 1964 to found Paula Sullivan Public Relations, now on 4th Avenue. She worked there until her illness forced her to retire.

An active member of the San Diego P.R. Club, Sullivan was well-known to public relations people throughout the city.

“Everybody in the communications profession was a friend of hers, and I feel fortunate to count myself as one of them,” said Mike Bordin, director of communications for Scripps Memorial Hospitals.

“Paula was everywhere. She sort of became almost the matriarch of communicators in San Diego,” Bordin said. “We mourn her loss, but we’re all richer because we knew her.”

Sullivan, who was married and divorced twice, is survived by a sister, Mary Jo Partington of South Carolina, and two brothers, Lynn Gano of Arizona and Ford Gano of Iowa.

Sullivan’s remains will be cremated and her ashes scattered at sea. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at the First United Methodist Church in Mission Valley.