Prudence Mason Runyan, marketing executive, author, and actress, has died at 72
She spent three years as an actor in New York and wrote a memoir about her life in 2023. “She continued to find new avenues of creative expression,” her family said.
Prudence Mason Runyan, 72, of Wyndmoor, former senior vice president for customer relations and engagement planning at FCB Health New York pharmaceutical marketing firm, author, actor, teacher, and volunteer, died Thursday, Jan. 25, of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at her home.
Creative and engaging, ambitious and determined, Mrs. Runyan was a natural at her first marketing job in 1980. She became an expert in direct marketing, customer relations, and advertising, and landed her dream job at FCB in 2015.
She rose to senior vice president and specialized in strategic planning, customer growth, and risk management. She commuted daily to New York by car and train for years, and retired in 2021.
Earlier, she worked in marketing and advertising for a variety of companies in the Philadelphia area as vice president, account director, and director of marketing. She was also a consultant for healthcare ad agencies and taught direct marketing to adults at Villanova University for two years.
She was quoted in The Inquirer and Daily News several times about marketing issues, and former colleagues said in an online tribute that she was generous, good-natured around the office, and uniquely funny. “One always came away from talking with Prudence either laughing or smiling,” one former colleague said. “What a gift.”
Her family said in a tribute: “She was considered a true partner, master of her craft, visionary, and advocate.”
Mrs. Runyan had a soaring soprano voice, and she starred as a singer and actor in musicals at Frankfort High School in Kentucky. She went to college with actor Tom Hulce and singer Randy Jones of the Village People, and earned a bachelor’s degree in drama at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 1974.
She qualified for her actors equity card by playing local dinner theater and regional productions in Kentucky, and moved to New York to make it big after college. She returned to Frankfort after three years and made it even bigger when she met Stan Runyan at a dinner party. They married in 1978, honeymooned in Japan and moved to Philadelphia in 1980.
The couple had daughter Abigail and son Benjamin, and lived in Chestnut Hill and Wyndmoor.
“She was a great listener,” her husband said. “She enjoyed other people and what they had to say, not telling her own story.”
In 2020, she unexpectedly reconnected with her estranged half-brother, Sam Mason, and their encounters until his death in 2021 and other experiences of her life became Postcards from Spongolia: A Memoir About My Brother Sam Mason. The 288-page paperback was published in 2023, and readers noted online that it is “heartwarming,” “touching,” and “poignant.”
Mrs. Runyan finished the book just as her illness intensified, and her daughter called its completion “an astounding example of strength and fortitude.” A former colleague said in an online tribute: “Whatever the topic, her deep compassion, humanity [and humor], and empathy came through.”
Prudence Blackburn Chinn Mason was born July 7, 1951. She rode in horse shows around Kentucky as a girl and sang in the junior church choir.
She had a playful sense of humor and a hearty laugh, and she and her husband went on memorable adventures to Europe, Canada, Hong Kong, and elsewhere. She returned often to Kentucky and doted on her three grandchildren in Massachusetts.
She tutored young students in math, was active with the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahai, and championed social justice initiatives. She also took comedy classes, made her own jewelry, and created beautiful gardens outside her home.
Mrs. Runyan sang in the choir at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill and volunteered on several church committees. When she became seriously ill in 2022, she served as an online fundraiser and ALS patient advocate.
“She never complained once,” her husband said. “She was an eternal optimist. Her motto was: Don’t borrow worries from the future.”
Friends called her an “inspiration” and a “beautiful soul.” They said: “She glowed with a warm and good spirit.”
Her son said: “She was fearless in everything that she did.”
In addition to her husband, children, and grandchildren, Mrs. Runyan is survived by other relatives.
A funeral service is to be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 22 E. Chestnut Hill Ave., Philadelphia, P.a. 19118. A service is to be held later in Kentucky.
Donations in her name may be made to Bridging Voice, 2132 84th St., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11214.