Publicist Bob Fennell Dies at 48

A graduate of Fordham University and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Fennell worked in theater publicity for two decades, beginning as an original staff member at Boneau/Bryan-Brown. Among his many projects there was the play Moon Over Buffalo, starring Carol Burnett; he is featured in Moon Over Broadway, a documentary about that show.

In 1996, he joined Marc Thibodeau’s firm, The Publicity Office. The firm’s clients have included such high-profile shows as A Raisin in the Sun with Sean Combs, Three Days of Rain with Julia Roberts, and the current Broadway hits The Phantom of the Opera, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Grey Gardens, and Wicked. Among its other clients are Playwrights Horizons and Signature Theater Company.

He was also an adjunct professor at Brooklyn College, where a scholarship fund has been set up in his name.

Fennell is survived by his companion, Stacy Shane, his mother Katherine, and five sisters: Mary Ann Brendler, Susan D’Agostino, Katherine Hoffnagle, Elizabeth Frare, and Nancy Case.