Lundy spent over 18 years of his career at Franco – during which time he won his third Silver Anvil award, the “Oscar” of the public relations industry. He served clients in the automotive, health care, consumer products, retail, banking and insurance industries, as well as clients in government and higher public education.

Lundy, a 42-year veteran of public relations, began his career as a staff writer at the University of Michigan’s University Relations Department. He later joined the Chrysler Corporation Public Relations Department. Next, he held executive positions at Frank Seymour Associates, later named Seymour & Lundy Associates, a minority-owned public relations agency. While at Seymour & Lundy, he designed a diverse array of public relations programs – two that won Silver Anvil awards. Lundy joined Franco in 1975 as a vice president and was later named senior vice president. In 1990, he left Franco to work for Casey Communications Management, then shortly thereafter set up his own consultancy. In 1998 Lundy affiliated his consultancy with Franco and in 2000 he rejoined Franco as an executive vice president.

Lundy was an active member in Detroit community affairs. He was a former member of the Image Task Force of the blue-ribbon Detroit Strategic Plan and a past member of the development committee of the Journalism Institute for Minorities at Wayne State University. He was a transition vice-chair for the first administration of Mayor Dennis Archer. Mayor Archer also appointed him to the Exploratory Committee for Detroit 300, the city of Detroit’s 300th birthday celebration.

Lundy sat on the Board of Visitors of the Oakland University School of Business Administration and was a former trustee of the University of Detroit Jesuit High School. He was also a member of the Public Relations Committee of the Board of Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.

He had been active in the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and was president of the Detroit Chapter of PRSA in the late 1970s.

Lundy was elected to the College of Fellows of PRSA by the organization’s national board in the mid-1990s. Fellows are elected on the basis of their outstanding contributions to the public relations profession. On Nov. 15, 2001, he was inducted into the Detroit PRSA Chapter Hall of Fame; the highest honor a public relations professional can be awarded by his peers.

“Gerry’s life was committed to teaching, mentoring and counseling,” said Daniel Ponder, CEO of Franco Public Relations Group. “I know I speak for all of us at Franco and the regional public relations community when I express our feelings of deep sorrow over his passing.”

A resident of Ypsilanti, Lundy graduated cum laude with a degree in journalism from the University of Michigan.

He is survived by his mother, Modelle Lundy; three sisters, Joyce (Melvin) Glenn of Detroit, Miriam Poe of Romulus, and Cheryl (Keith) Dumas of Ann Arbor; four brothers, Elder William (Melonae), Kenneth and Michael (Francene) of Ypsilanti and Robert (Sharon) of Detroit; his friend Nora Paulson, who in Lundy’s word, “stayed at my elbow”; and numerous nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

He was preceded in death by his father Rufus, sister Ellen Berry and brother Harry.

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