Anne Isenhower, respected public relations expert, has died
In Anne Isenhower’s cellphone, there are more than 2,000 numbers and names, gathered from people she knew around the globe. She managed to check in with most of them at least once a year, keeping alive connections and friendships.
“She loved everyone around her, and she was loved by so many people,” said Danielle Gordon, Isenhower’s closest friend of more than 15 years. “She was the most generous person I’ve ever known, with her time, talent and money.”
Isenhower, a skilled public relations professional, died Jan. 1 in her Atlanta home, according to Gordon, who is handling arrangements. She was 59.
Her death follows the unexpected loss of her 18-year-old son, Max Podowitz. He died on Dec. 7 and was attending New York University, where he was a freshman.
After her son’s death, her grief for her only child was overwhelming, friends said.
“Max was my everything,” Isenhower wrote in her last letter to Gordon. “I am lost without him and I get more lost every day. Wherever Max is, he misses me and he needs me. I want my gentle, sweet, smart, funny, kind, goofy, thoughtful kid who always knew what was in my head and my heart. I’m not religious, but I believe there’s something out there.”
The daughter of Frederick Neil Isenhower and Adeliah Smyer Crouch Isenhower, Anne Isenhower grew up in North Carolina, where she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1990. She worked in media relations at the Atlanta History Center, SciTrek and the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.
She also worked for FleishmanHillard, the American Cancer Society and Golin. In 2011, wanting more flexibility so she could spend time with her son, she started her own firm, whose clients included Rotary International, Deloitte and the Task Force for Public Health, among others.
“She was just brilliant,” says Mitch Leff, who worked with her during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. “She worked in a global health care PR space, and she worked around the world.”
Isenhower was adept at networking, connecting people with others they needed to know. Journalists valued her ability to connect them with experts who could serve as sources for stories.
Health reporter Maryn McKenna is a contributor at Scientific American and a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of Human Health at Emory University. She said Isenhower was “incredibly reliable and credible. She paid attention to what reporters needed and never promised more than she could deliver.”
Isenhower organized an annual gala for Captain Planet and raised millions of dollars for Democratic organizations and candidates, both in metro areas and in rural Georgia. Because her son was involved with the Young Democrats, she was as well.
“She taught Max to be committed,” says Gordon. “She showed how important it is to get involved. You have to work for change to make it happen. You can’t sit back and hope it happens.”
During Leff’s long friendship with Isenhower, he said, she always had pet bunnies. She was a member of the Georgia House Rabbit Society, adopting rabbits who needed homes.
A celebration of her life will be held later in the year at Manuel’s Tavern in Atlanta.
