Alma Kadragic's Obituary
Alma Kadragic passed peacefully Wednesday, August 16, 2023 at 1:25am at the Palace Renaissance in Kendall, Florida.
Born in Poland June 17, 1943, she and her parents came to the United States when she was eleven years of age and lived in New York. She majored in English literature at the City College of New York and earned a Ph. D. degree in English at the City University of New York in 1973.
In 1983 Alma was sent to Poland by ABC News to run the bureau in Warsaw. From 1983-90 she served as regional Bureau Chief and covered events in Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia with technical and editorial personnel from Poland.
In 1990 with political revolutions over and the economic turnaround beginning, she left ABC after 16 years of news coverage to join her parents’ American company, Alcat Productions LTD, as Vice President. She opened the first foreign office of Alcat in Warsaw in late 1992 and served as Managing Partner. Alcat Communications Warsaw Ltd was a full-service public relations and advertising agency, offering foreign clients services on the Polish market and through its membership in the WorldCom Group network offering Polish clients access to markets in the Americans, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Clients included American Express, General Motors, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nestle, and Westinghouse. Alma taught at several universities including Zayed and the University of Wollongong in Abu Dhabi for seven years.
Her publications include chapters on public relations and media in the Hollis Catalogue of Public Relations and the Encyclopedia of Polish Industry. She has written numerous articles for Polish newspapers and magazines; she was a sought-after speaker at universities and professional groups. She spoke French, Polish, English, Serbo-Croatian, and managed German and other Slavic languages.
She founded the Polish Public Relations Association and served as its President. Alma was a member of the Executive Board of the World Press Freedom Committee and a life member of American Women in Radio and Television. Alma was also a member of the local Coral Gables Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), and the Greater Miami Chamber. She thoroughly enjoyed world travel, red wine, dogs, reading, and friends and family.
The Celebration of Life Service will be held Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 5pm at the Van Orsdel Chapel, 4600 SW 8th Street, Coral Gables. Memorials may be made in her name to the charity of one’s choice. The service will be streamed online: CLICK HERE TO WATCH LIVE STREAM.
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