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Barbara Clark McCully
Year of induction: 1998
Bio:
Barbara Clark McCully was a major figure in retail advertising locally and nationally for thirty years. She was truly a Renaissance Woman, pursuing her career, enriching the lives of many people through her community activities and mentoring, and raising four children. In 1970, she was named Woman of the Year by the Pittsburgh Advertising Club.
A native of Swissvale, she began her advertising career in radio and television broadcasting in Charleston, South Carolina. She entered the field of retail advertising when she returned to Pittsburgh as a copywriter for Horne’s department store. She then worked in the advertising department of Gimbel’s and Kaufmann’s. She rose through the ranks to become Vice President of Advertising and one of the first women to reach the senior executive ranks at the May Corporation, parent company of Kaufmann’s.
Barbara introduced many innovative ideas into retail advertising. She used world-famous photographers such as Victor Skrebneski to shoot designer clothing ads for Kaufmann’s. She posed models in the Scaife Gallery at the Carnegie Museum of Art. She ran ads in Vogue magazine. Barbara saw no reason why Pittsburgh should be second city to anywhere in terms of fashion and style.
She subsequently worked as a consultant for KYW radio and television stations in Philadelphia; Rike’s Department Store in Dayton, Ohio; The Outlet in Providence, Rhode Island; and Goldwater’s in Phoenix, Arizona. After a year of commuting to Phoenix on weekends, she returned to Pittsburgh for good in the mid-1980’s, working part time for Marc Advertising, Sautel Advertising and Lazarus department store.
Her husband, Robert McCully, of Pittsburgh advertising public relations, radio/TV and entertainment fame, said: “Barbara was unquestionably the most remarkable woman I ever knew. You had to be with her as I was in our wonderful marriage to appreciate her brilliance, kindness, integrity, and dedication. I never knew anyone who contributed so much to her profession and to the lives of others. One of our friends always described Barbara as Mother Theresa without Portfolio, a title that embarrassed her although she rightfully deserved it.”
The field of advertising and the world at large lost a great person when she lost her battle with cancer on May 23, 1998.
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