Philly publicist dead after being hit by truck in Montco Wawa parking lot

A politically connected Philadelphia publicist recalled as a trailblazing woman in the local public relations scene died Wednesday afternoon after being hit by a pickup truck in a Montgomery County Wawa parking lot, police said.

According to police, Kelly Boyd, 56, was in a Hatfield Township Wawa parking lot just before 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday when she was struck by a 2021 Ford F-150 truck operated by a 65-year-old Philadelphia driver. She was taken to Grandview Hospital, where she died from her injuries, police said.

The incident is being treated as an accident, and no charges have been filed, police said, although an investigation is ongoing. Hatfield police Thursday declined to elaborate on where Boyd was in the parking lot of the combined convenience store and gas station, but said that she was not in a vehicle.

Police have asked anyone who may have information on or witnessed the incident to call 215-855-0903 or email policetips@hatfield.org.

Boyd, a longtime Philadelphia resident and founder of Rittenhouse-based KB Consultants, is best remembered by friends and family for her zeal for business and love for her three daughters: Claire, Grace, and Frances.

» READ MORE: From 2004: Philadelphia’s Kelly Boyd — wife, mother, successful entrepreneur — has it all, wants more, and has a 5-year plan for getting it

“Kelly was really a powerhouse,” said HughE Dillon, a photographer and public relations professional behind the Philly Chit Chat blog. Dillon said he first met Boyd 16 years ago, when he was launching his blog. “She just was glamorous, and very welcoming, and really helped me out in my career in the beginning to make the connections that I needed to make to cover and chronicle Philadelphia.”

The oldest of three children, Boyd was raised in Lower Gwynedd, and graduated from Gwynedd-Mercy Academy. She attended American University, before graduating from Penn’s Fels Institute of Government with a master’s degree in government administration, and Temple University’s law school.

Boyd’s local political connections were deep and ran the gamut of working for the late Sen. John Heinz to fundraising for former Mayor John Street and the powerful International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98.

She held dinners at Del Frisco’s steak house with the who’s who of Philadelphia, and rubbed elbows with celebrities like William Shatner, Dillon said. And her philanthropic parties at her Delancey Place town house often gave way to group sing-alongs around the piano, he said.

“Happiness and fun are critical to me,” she told The Inquirer for a 2004 article. “Everyone who knows me, knows that I have to have fun, with my clients and home life.”

As a budding PR pro in the early 2000s, Dillon said he learned from Boyd to “turn off my hearing and photograph people,” as well as to always wear a suit jacket to events.

With a charismatic personality and often wearing pastel Chanel and towering pumps, Dillon said Boyd “made [PR] events glamorous and attractive, you wanted to go to them.”

“Before her, it was all men in brown suits,” he said, calling Boyd a “trailblazer for women.”

Boyd’s cousin, Jamie, said she was inspired by Boyd’s work, interning at KB Consultants before she studied public relations at Temple. Jamie Boyd, 39, called her cousin “fearless” and learned from her to “not be afraid of being a leader.”

“I think she was one of the bigger influences during that time for women, especially in Philadelphia,” Jamie Boyd said.

In her personal life, Boyd cherished her three daughters, her cousin said, also throwing elaborate parties at her town house for the girls. “Birthday parties, baptisms, you name it,” Jamie Boyd said. “It was mainly all for them.”