Posted on: Thursday, June 13, 2002
Nancy Von, public relations consultant
By Kapono Dowson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Nancy Lee Bennett Von, a public relations consultant for commercial, professional and nonprofit organizations in Hawai'i, died June 6. She was 60.
A resident of Hawai'i since 1967, she served as associate editor of Hawai'i Press Newspapers before starting her own firm, Nancy Von Public Relations, in 1976.
Her pro-bono work included active support for the project to build Korean and Vietnam war memorials on the State Capitol grounds.She also served as executive director of the Pacific Marine Life Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to protecting marine life.
Von, who was born in Hanover, N.H., was raised in Seattle and graduated from the University of Washington School of Communications. She was a member of the Public Relations Society of America and the Chamber of Commerce of Honolulu. She also was a member of The Pacific Club and the Polynesian Voyaging Society.
Von was a runner who completed five Hawai'i marathons. In 1980, she was able to run the Honolulu Marathon as part of the marathon's first three-generational team. She ran with her father, the late Dr. James Bennett, and her daughter, Heidi von Gnechten Wright.
Wright, who lives in Denver, said that team effort was an exceptional experience for the three of them. "My mother really had a lot of spunk," Wright said. "Whenever she got into something, she went into it with her whole heart."
A celebration of Von's life will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at The Pacific Club, followed by the scattering of ashes at 5:30 p.m. off Waikiki at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Von's memory to the Pacific Marine Life Foundation and the International Myeloma Foundation or to a charity of one's choice.
Besides her daughter, Von is survived by her mother, Beatrice Bennett of Honolulu; son, Richard von Gnechten of Honolulu; brother John Bennett of Washington; sisters, Carolyn Bennett and Jean Bishop of Colorado; and four grandchildren.
