• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, October 3, 2016

Adweek’s Noreen O’Leary, one of the most widely-read and respected writers covering the advertising beat over the last generation died on Saturday after a battle with cancer. She was 59. 

O’Leary was a Pittsburgh native who studied at Carnegie-Mellon University. She spent nearly her entire career at Adweek, joining the publication in 1985, but also had pieces published in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times. 

She was particularly well known for in-depth and revealing stories about the industry’s agency world and those who led it—many such stories becoming the subject of immediate water cooler conversations throughout Adland. 

As Adweek noted in an obituary posted last night, “O'Leary will be remembered particularly for several profiles that changed the perception of her subjects—sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worse. The highlight, many in the industry agree, was her profile in 1992 of ad legend David Ogilvy, who let her into his French chateau for several days, years after cutting himself off from the press." 

Commenting in the story, Adweek Editor Jim Cooper said of O’Leary, "She was as tenacious as she was gracious, and we will miss her and her byline very much indeed." 

O’Leary is survived by her husband Chris Garland.

Funeral services will be held this Saturday, October 8, at McVeigh Funeral Home at 208 North Allen Street in Albany, N.Y. Calling hours are 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., followed immediately by a memorial service at 3 p.m. From 4-7 p.m., there will be a gathering at The Olde English Pub, Quackenbush Square, 683 Broadway, also in Albany.