Peggy Burton

September 1, 1926 - July 24, 2014

Peggy Burton, 87, a renowned New York advertising executive and documentary film producer whose pioneering career spanned over seven decades, died peacefully on July 24 in her home at the Metropolitan Tower surrounded by her daughter, Linda Sidhoum Burton and her granddaughter Tara Isabella Burton. From an entry-level position with Young & Rubicam in the 1960s where, as a woman, she was denied admittance into its executive training program, she persevered and went on to build a successful career as a senior account executive at Daniel & Charles Advertising, as the Director of Advertising & Communications for American Express and finally, as Senior Vice President of Advertising for The Dreyfus Corporation and President of its in-house advertising agency. Prior to entering advertising she was a successful model and freelance television producer in New York in the 1940s through the early 60s, after having attended City College and NYU. After her retirement from Dreyfus in 1994 she returned to film producing and was the assistant producer of the Emmy Award winning documentary “The Mystery of the Sphinx” with Egyptologist John Anthony West and Charlton Heston, while establishing a world-wide consulting practice on web-based marketing,

During WWII she was Miss Red Cross and famously travelled around the country gathering signatures on a doll for auction from the most illustrious people of the time, including Frank Sinatra, Francis Cardinal Spellman, General Eisenhower and Mrs. Truman. At American Express she is known for her development of the Monthly Newsletter for Gold Cardmembers beginning in 1981, featuring interviews she conducted with such notables as Walter Cronkite, Buckminister Fuller, William F. Buckley Jr., Itzhak Perlman and James Michener, many of which became lifelong friends. She was also an avid art collector, and was close friends with, among other artists, Louise Nevelson and Paul Jenkins.

She has been an active member of numerous boards and organizations in New York, including Business Executives for National Security, the Foreign Policy Association, the Fine Arts Club, the Dutch Treat Club and the New York Athletic Club. After her retirement, in addition to her professional activities, she studied art history at Oxford University and the tango in Buenos Aires, and until her death served weekly as a volunteer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A memorial service will be held at Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel, 1076 Madison Avenue, on July 30 at 4 PM. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Central Park Conservancy to a fund set up on her behalf.