ALICE J. WOLF KIEL's Obituary
Alice Jane Wolf Kiel, the first person to put toilet paper advertising on television when they weren’t sure the public would accept it, died on February 5, 2018. She was 92. She was a resident of Coral Gables. Until the very end, Alice remained loyal to friends from elementary, high school and college, as well as many others she nurtured through her lifetime. Born in Canton, Ohio on March 16, 1925 to Albert Wolf and Catherine Prudent, Alice’s early years were spent in Tampa, Florida where she attended elementary and middle school. She moved to NYC as a teen and attended George Washington High School. After high school, Alice did a year of war work. She commuted 1 ½ hours each way and was one of two women working at the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a draftswoman in the electrical department on the plans for the USS Missouri. Upon graduation from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Alice returned to New York, but moved shortly thereafter with her parents to Miami, where she worked for an art, advertising and photography studio, which proved to be the beginning of her career in advertising. Several years later, she returned to New York, hoping to land a job in the art department of an advertising agency or museum. Fortunately, fate intervened, and Alice had an extremely successful career as a Senior Media Buyer specializing in Television & Radio with several major advertising agencies in New York and Philadelphia including N.W. Ayer; J. Walter Thompson; Grey Advertising; and Burke Dowling Adams. In addition to Scott Paper, her clients included United Airlines, Johnson & Johnson, Breck Hair Products, Delta Airlines, Chock Full O’Nuts, Buitoni Foods, Ford Dealers and the Florida Citrus Commission. She also handled original TV shows such as “Omnibus,” “My Little Marjie,” and “Father Knows Best.” During her career, she was recognized by “Who’s Who in American Women” and was an early member of American Women in Radio and Television. She met and married Seymour Kiel, who was a television advertising executive. They settled in Philadelphia and in 1961, she retired to raise her daughter, Catherine. Her greatest joy was being a mother. Alice moved to Coral Gables in 1985 to be with her mother, Catherine Prudent Geary, who lived to 107 ½. She continued to work for the International Fine Arts College and the University of Miami and finished her career in the Box Offices of the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts and the New World Symphony. Alice was recently honored by the Honor Flight Organization for her war work and attended a Virtual Honor Flight on the 75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor. She was a member of the Miami Woman’s Club and an active parishioner at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Coral Gables. She is survived by her daughter Catherine, her nephew Jay, and her grandcats, Chanel and Valentino. Services will be at 2 p.m. on Thurs., Feb. 15 at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Coral Gables. Memorial gifts may be made in Alice Kiel’s name to the Miami University Foundation Performing Arts Series Fund (1417-001), 725 Chestnut St., Oxford, OH, 45056.
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