Barbara Dunn-Leonard

From 1983 until her retirement in 2009, Barbara was in senior management at Ralph Edwards Productions (REP), best known today as co-producer with Stu Billet Productions of The People’s Court and as a pioneer in the fledgling radio and television industries with such shows as Truth or Consequences and This is Your Life.

Services will be held Sunday, Dec. 17 at 2 p.m. at Acheson and Graham Garden of Prayer Mortuary, Riverside, Calif., to be followed by a Celebration of Life at 4:30 p.m. at the Mission Inn Hotel.

During her 26-year tenure at REP, Barbara served in a variety of positions, most recently as president. At the company, she directed development of programming and marketing; produced live events and television shows; and managed the company’s historic and expansive library.

She served as co-executive producer of a series of This is Your Life television specials for NBC and This is Your Life: The Classics, 52 episodes reprised for AMC. Her tenure was also highlighted as executive producer of the animated film Annabelle’s Wish (1997), which during its initial year of release captured nearly 15 million viewers during its FOX-TV debut; sold more than 2 million home video units; won the Video Software Dealers Video of the Year Award; and raised more than $1.7 million for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America.

REP is also widely recognized as a pioneer of cause marketing. From 2000-2007, Barbara established and oversaw WishWorks, created to support the activation of the General Motors/United Auto Workers’ national sponsorship of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, which was the largest in its history at the time.

The sponsorship and cause marketing campaign generated widespread awareness, for both the charity and UAW-GM, raising in excess of $27 million, enough to grant 10,000+ wishes in communities across the country for children battling life-threatening illnesses.

Barbara began her career in the entertainment industry as an entertainment booker and agent for live venues representing Knott’s Berry Farm and artists such as Alabama, John Denver, Dan Fogelberg and Dick Clark’s Good ol’ Rock ’n’ Roll Show.

She graduated from the University of Southern California (USC), receiving a B.A. in public relations and journalism. Her professional associations included Women In Film, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

She is survived by two children, Katie and Jeff, grandchildren and loving family.