Jean L. Brodey, Temple professor

Jean L. Brodey, 85, of Flourtown, a retired Temple University professor who helped launch the careers of many public-relations professionals in the Philadelphia region, died Wednesday, April 30, at her home of complications from Parkinson's disease.

Last year, a collection of poetry she had written more than 50 years earlier was published in a book called My Way to Anywhere.

Ms. Brodey was born in Philadelphia and grew up in East Oak Lane, said her daughter, Lisette. She graduated from Olney High School and earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Pennsylvania State University.

Out of college, she was hired by the Frank H. Fleer Co. in Philadelphia, and wrote facts and fortunes for the inside of Dubble Bubble chewing gum wrappers.

She married Robert S. Brodey in 1952. She left Fleer to be a mother and homemaker, and also focused on writing poetry. In an interview published on her daughter's blog, Ms. Brodey said her love of poetry began when she was a young child and her mother read to her Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses.

At 38, she got a divorce and returned to working. She earned a master's degree and a Ph.D. in education at Temple. For more than 25 years, she taught public relations and journalism at the school. She also oversaw student internships for many years.

Cathy Engle Menendez, senior manager of communications at Peco, who was a student and became a close friend, said Ms. Brodey "is responsible for hundreds of PR people, including me, working in the field."

In 1998, Ms. Brodey was inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Association's hall of fame. Since 2002, the group has presented the annual Dr. Jean Brodey Student Achievement Award.

In addition to her daughter, she is survived by a son, Kenneth, and a granddaughter. Her former husband died in 1979.

For information about a memorial reception Thursday, May 22, go to facebook.com/DrJeanBrodey.

215-854-5983 @RobertMoran215