Madelyn J. Gartland, advertising expert and retired director of public relations, has died at 78
She used her energy and engaging personality to create effective promotional campaigns at Wills Eye Hospital and elsewhere.
Madelyn J. Gartland, 78, formerly of Philadelphia, longtime advertising expert and retired director of public relations at Wills Eye Hospital, died Tuesday, Sept. 26, of complications from dementia at Brandywine Living’s Haverford Estates.
Energetic, articulate, and engaging, Ms. Gartland was a natural in the fast-paced world of product marketing and corporate promotion. She was a goal-oriented executive, adept at building professional relationships, and a creative collaborator with her staff and clients.
Novel ideas came to her easily, her brother Jack said, and she was more than happy to share the credit as well as the workload. “She was focused,” her brother said. “She worked hard. She was a leader.”
Ms. Gartland generated projects and campaigns of all kinds for advertising firms in Devon and Dallas, Texas, for a few years after college. She settled into an award-winning career as director of public relations and development at Wills Eye Hospital in the early 1980s and retired in 2006.
Her friends and family called her a role model and tried to copy her work ethic. “She could light up the room,” her brother said. “She was full of vim and vigor.”
Madelyn Jane Gartland was born Oct. 23, 1944, in Philadelphia. She was the oldest of five children, and her brother said: “She was the star of the family. She was a hard act to follow.”
Her father was John J. Gartland, a renowned physician and former chairman of the orthopedic surgery department at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and the family lived in Drexel Hill and Wynnewood. She was a straight-A student, played field hockey and basketball at Country Day School of the Sacred Heart in Overbrook, now Sacred Heart Academy in Bryn Mawr, and graduated from Rosemont College.
She lived in Society Hill Towers for years, dined often in her favorite restaurants, and attended services on Sundays at Old St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. She skied in the winter and spent many unforgettable summers down the Shore in Longport.
She married James. P. Furey, and they divorced later. She was a lifelong source of guidance and inspiration to her brother and younger sisters, Patricia and Mary Ellen, and Mary Ellen said it was Ms. Gartland who encouraged her constantly to stay positive when school or work became challenging. A sister, Barbara, died earlier.
Ms. Gartland enjoyed dancing, music, and red wine. She was stylish in just about everything she did. She was “bright, sharp, and humble,” her family said. She moved to Haverford Estates after she retired.
She was especially close to her 10 nieces and nephews, and 12 grandnieces and grandnephews. “Family was everything to her,” said her sister-in-law Jan. “She was extremely loyal. She was like a sister to me.”
In addition to her brother, sisters, and sister-in-law, Ms. Gartland is survived by other relatives. Her former husband died earlier.
Private services were held Tuesday, Oct 3.
Donations in her name may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Floor 17, Chicago, Ill. 60601.