Jane Stewart (executive)

Following years of struggle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Stewart committed suicide in Litchfield Park, Arizona on September 7, 1990.

She retired in 1968 at the age of 51 and married John Mapes the same year. The pair moved to a quaint Phoenix suburb, Litchfield Park, where Stewart regularly volunteered with nonprofit organizations, including the library board. There is no clear documentation on her religious beliefs but she was an active member of the Dutch Reformed Church in New York.

After graduating, Stewart spent five years as an assistant for press relations at Long Island Rail Road. In 1945 she left and became John W. Hill’s secretary at Hill and Knowlton. After five years at H&K, she left with top executive John G. Mapes and founded Group Attitudes Corp. in 1950. Stewart is described as being ambitious and thus a risky career move such as the switch to Group Attitudes was reflective of her personality. They joined Hill & Knowlton when Group Attitudes was acquired in 1956, but the group continued to operate within the walls of H&K. They even had some exclusive clients, including Hill and Knowlton's steel account.

Stewart attended Randolph Macon—a women's college in Lynchburg, Virginia—then transferred to Ohio Wesleyan University to study history and education, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1939. During this time, she was involved in history and sociology clubs in addition to the Y.W.C.A and being a member of a sorority. She gave back to her school through monetary contributions and served on the board of directors during the mid 1960s. She also served on the public relations committees of many organizations including the New York State Salvation Army and the American Foundation for Religion and Psychiatry.

Anna Jane Stewart (July 2, 1917 – September 7, 1990), also called Jane Stewart Mapes in the press, was an American public relations executive. She was among the first female executives in her field. She was vice president and then president of Group Attitudes Corporation, a subsidiary of Hill and Knowlton in 1961. She was named by Printers' Ink in 1966 as one of America's 40 top women in executive positions in communications and marketing.

Anna Jane Stewart was born in Pitcairn, Pennsylvania on July 2, 1917. According to interviewee Barbara Walkley, with whom Jane Stewart had shared a workplace, Stewart was "not very tall; she had medium blonde or sandy brown hair, very nice eyes, a small to medium build" . . . "a presence; you had to look twice." Aside from the names of her family members, mother, Froan (Seibert) Stewart; father, Lawrence R. Stewart; and sister, Ruth, not much is known about her childhood. At some point her family moved to Floral Park, New York.