Laura Lee Killeen

The eldest of 5 children, Laura Lee started collecting medals as a child for her swimming and diving prowess, then accumulated award after award for her exceptional advertising expertise and recognition for her professional and civic engagement. She became the third member of the Killeen family to win the coveted Silver Medal Lifetime Achievement Award by the Advertising Club of New Orleans, which had also been won by her father Buzzy and her Grandfather Joseph who founded Fitzgerald Advertising (where Laura Lee spent much of her career) with Clifford L. Fitzgerald.

A straight A student, Laura Lee held the spot as her father’s hunting and fishing partner until her younger brother Shawn arrived. She sailed with her father as well, first in the family’s Pram, the Soggy Cracker, which her father built and which her mother outfitted with a handmade sail and, years later, she went on to join the Southern Yacht Club.

Laura Lee graduated from St Rita School, then Louise S. McGehee and went on to the University of Georgia, whence she graduated with a degree in journalism and remained a loyal and contributing Bulldog to the end.

She began her career at Swigart Advertising then went on to co-found Cantelli Killeen Schaumburg Advertising, which had the Baumer Food’s Crystal Hot Sauce account among many others, which led to a minor contretemps with her father who, at Fitzgerald Advertising, represented and was deeply loyal to TABASCO®. Laura Lee ultimately joined Fitzgerald, which became Kupper Parker Fitzgerald, then Beuerman Miller Fitzgerald in 2002.

Some of Laura Lee’s seminal work throughout her illustrious career included coordinating Antoine's restaurants 125th anniversary, important early work with New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (Jazz Fest), highly successful campaigns for Evangeline Bread and playing a significant role in the growth of Perque Flooring through pioneering cross marketing with interior designers and targeted coop programs.

Laura Lee landed the iconic K&B drug stores account and grew it from $400,000 in 1986 to $3.5 Million in 1997 in 13 markets through thoughtful yet fun campaigns that included a talking ice cream case featuring hidden microphones to beguile consumers into buying their popular ice creams. She was deeply involved with the Zatarain’s account, which Fitzgerald steered with campaigns like “Zat’s Right!” and teamed with colleague Ron Thompson (also a Silver Medal Lifetime Achievement Award winner) to develop TABASCO® mash into a viable and thriving category for McIlhenny Company.

Laura Lee was known to grow spectacular roses and routinely conquer the NY Times Crossword puzzle in ink. She was a passionate member of the audience at the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the opera and learned to play the piano beautifully after retiring from advertising.

She championed many causes over many years, with the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) and St. Stanislaus school (which her father and her brother attended) among the dearest to her. She was named a CityBusiness Woman of the Year for her professional and civic contributions.

She was known for her grace, her dedication, and her ethical sensibility. She was no nonsense yet fun and she was adored and dubbed “LL Cool K” by her young but ardent fanbase at Beuerman Miller Fitzgerald.

Family was always her most important focus, and she was ever present. The next generation and the next knew that they could always go to Laura Lee with any trouble or any celebration. She adored her siblings and her nieces and nephews; that love was reciprocated, as they all knew that they could count on Laura Lee for perspective and support.

Laura Lee was preceded in death by her father, Joseph “Buzzy” L. Killeen, Jr, her mother Constance “Connie” Jones Killeen, and her brother Joseph “Joey” L. Killeen III. She is survived by her sisters, Nina Killeen and Shannon Barton (John, “JB”) and her brother Shawn Killeen (Suzette), her nieces and nephews Robert Whittaker, Constance Whittaker, Christopher Whittaker (Hope), Graham Meadors (Porter), Wynne Barton (Sarah), Kiel Killeen, Jennifer Madina (Zach), Kohl Killeen and Kale Killeen, 9 great nieces and nephews and one great, great niece, all of whom will carry her in their hearts and amplify her poise and sense of independence and adventure.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend a Memorial Mass in the Chapel of Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at 11:00am. Visitation will begin at 9:00am. Interment in Metairie Cemetery.