Patricia Penney Bennett; Public Relations Executive

Patricia Penney Bennett, 72, public relations executive in Los Angeles for more than 50 years. She was president of her own firms--Penney and Bennett Inc. for 15 years, and Pat Penney Public Relations from 1976 until her death. She served as managing editor of several E.F. Baumer & Co. client publications, taught public relations at USC and served on the Public Relations Advisory Committee. She also was a member of the board of the Visiting Nurses Assn. and a member of the Committee of Professional Women. She was elected one of the first 25 honorees of the Honor Roll for Women in Public Relations and was the first woman named Distinguished Professional of the Year by the Public Relations Society of America. Born in Arkansas, the publicist earned her journalism degree at the University of Kansas and an MBA from Pepperdine University. On Jan. 15 in Los Angeles of a brain aneurysm.