Connie White, a longtime public relations woman, never lost her Southern charm, but she was a “formidable woman and could be tough,” said her niece, Catherine Burwell of Alexandria, Va.
White, partner in the White & White public relations firm with her late husband, William White, died June 3 at her home. She was 95.
Services are planned at 2 p.m. today at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral, East 13th Avenue and Clarkson Street.
Connie White “was very persuasive,” said Burwell, “and no one dared cross her. But she very sweet and loving to her family and friends.”
“She was exacting, sharp as a tack and didn’t take guff from anyone,” said a longtime friend, Jim Cohig. “She was a good businesswoman.”
The Whites opened their firm in 1955 and continued it for 30 years. They had some of the city’s biggest clients, including Coors and Gates Rubber Co.
Connie and William White had journalism careers before coming to Denver.
Connie White taught at Queens College in Charlotte, N.C., her hometown, did research for Time magazine, later worked in foreign news research and was assistant to the editorial director of Time, Life and Fortune magazines.
She sailed on a destroyer to London in 1945 to marry White, then a foreign correspondent for Time. They had met when both worked in New York.
She arrived on V-J Day, and the Whites stayed in England for two years. She worked as a foreign correspondent.
The couple then worked four years for Time covering Brazil.
They returned to New York in 1950, where she was editor of the Paley Commission Project, a five-volume study on the nation’s natural resources.
They moved to Denver, William White’s hometown, in 1955 and opened the public relations firm. William White died in 2001.
“She was very modest,” said Diane Stanbro, a friend. “Most of us never knew about Connie’s career before Denver.”
Connie Burwell was born Dec. 2, 1912, earned her bachelor’s degree in philosophy at Sweet Briar College in Virginia and her master’s and doctorate in philosophy from the University of North Carolina. She was given the university’s Distinguished Alumnae Award in 2000.
In 1937 Burwell went to Heidelberg, Germany, to further her studies, but the effort was cut short by the war. She left the country for France, just ahead of the Gestapo, according to Burwell. She had hidden the notes she’d taken about Germany in her shoe.
“She was not a bit afraid of anything,” said her niece.
The Whites had no children. Connie White is survived by several nieces and nephews.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
