Clifford C.R. Hood, celebrated tenor and longtime public relations executive, has died at 99

Clifford C.R. Hood, 99, of Philadelphia, celebrated tenor, retired advertising and public relations executive, founder of C.C.R. Hood and Co. Inc., and Navy veteran, died Monday, March 30, of age-associated decline at his home at Cathedral Village retirement community in Roxborough.

Reared in Bala Cynwyd and a graduate of Episcopal Academy and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Mr. Hood served on a Navy supply ship during the Korean War and devised a more effective way for personnel and cargo to be moved between ships at sea.

Later, he promoted Dick Clark’s Bandstand and other popular shows for WFIL-TV in the 1950s, established his own public relations firm in 1962, and became a top communications executive for the Richard A. Foley and Doremus and Co. advertising agencies, and Scott Paper Co.

However, his lifelong love of singing and the joys it provided may have been his most treasured achievements. At 10, he earned a scholarship to Episcopal and a place in the prestigious St. James Choir by outperforming hundreds of other boys in a singing competition.

At 24, he won the Abbott and Costello Comedy Hour amateur TV critics contest and received, according to The Inquirer in 1951, “a gift package of Colgate products.” He went on to sing in many choirs and quartets, be a principal tenor with the Savoy Co. amateur opera group from 1954 to 1958, and serve as onetime president and member of the Orpheus Club male choral society from 1962 to 2018.

He was a board member and onetime president of the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, and he met his wife, Charlotte, at the Savoy Co. They married in 1958 and were regulars on the musical social scene for years.

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In 1970, Mr. Hood played the defendant in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Trial by Jury opera. Inquirer critic Samuel L. Singer praised the cast and production for its efforts and lamented: “It is a shame they run for only one weekend.”

In 1997, Mr. Hood celebrated the 125th anniversary of the Orpheus Club with more than 1,000 other music enthusiasts at the Union League. He told The Inquirer’s David Iams: “Singing makes you live longer.”

Offstage, after six years in the promotions department at WFIL, Mr. Hood was recruited in 1959 by the Richard A. Foley advertising agency as a copywriter. He rose to director of public relations and was featured in 1961 in Advertising Age magazine as the “versatile adman.”

He started his own advertising and public relations company, C.C.R. Hood and Co. Inc. in 1962, and attracted a variety of clients that included Leary’s Bookstore in Philadelphia, Hatboro Federal Savings and the Rhodes Garden in Montgomery County, and Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J.

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In the 1970s, he assumed roles as a vice president for the Doremus & Co. business-to-business communications firm and manager of corporate communications for Scott Paper. At Scott, he had to publicly debunk a false rumor about an impending scarcity of toilet paper and reassure wary customers when a competitor, not Scott, reduced the size of its tissues to save money.

He was onetime president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, board member of the Seamans Church Institute of Philadelphia and South Jersey, and a member of the Creative Education Foundation of Buffalo, N.Y.

He joined the Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps after high school in 1945 and entered the Navy after graduating from Penn in 1951. He was discharged in 1953 and resigned from the Naval Reserve in 1962 as a lieutenant.

In 1977, Mr. Hood was a spokesperson for Cathedral Village when officials at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church scrapped plans for a new sanctuary and instead built the retirement community complex. Mr. Hood told The Inquirer: “We feel we can do much more for mankind by taking care of its needs.”

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Clifford Charles Randolph Hood was born Feb. 15, 1927. He was features editor for Penn’s school newspaper as a senior and earned a bachelor’s degree at the Wharton School.

He married Charlotte Stevenson, and they lived in Chestnut Hill and Wyndmoor, and reared a son, Charles Jr., and daughters Christy and Annette. His wife, son, and daughter Annette died earlier.

After retiring in the early 2000s, Mr. Hood traveled the world with his wife. They vacationed in St. Barts in the French West Indies for many winters, and he sang in a choir there, too. He moved to Cathedral Village — and sang in a choir — in 2018.

Mr. Hood was late for practically everything, his daughter Christy said, and his mother often set their clocks ahead to keep him on schedule. “He was quiet but thoughtful,” his daughter said. “Everybody liked him. He was a nice guy.”

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Hood is survived by two grandsons, three great-grandchildren, and other relatives. Two sisters and a brother died earlier.

A memorial service is to be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 23, at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 8000 St. Martin’s Lane, Philadelphia, Pa. 19118. A reception is to follow.

Donations in his name may be made to the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, Box 22464, Philadelphia, Pa. 19110.