Broadway Press Agent Bob Fennell Dies at 48

Bob Fennell, co-owner of the Broadway publicity firm The Publicity Office, died on Sunday, November 12th following a brief illness.

He was born November 7, 1958 in Yonkers, NY, son of Katherine (Granger) Fennell and the late Robert Augustine Fennell.  A longtime resident of New York City, he worked as a carpenter and actor before becoming a respected Broadway Press Agent.  Since 1996 he was co-owner of the Manhattan firm The Publicity Office, and before that was an associate at the agencies Chris Boneau & Associates and Boneau/Bryan Brown. 

Among the more than 100 Broadway, Off-Broadway and touring productions he represented were Wicked, Angels in America, The Phantom of the Opera, A Raisin in the Sun, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Skylight, The Diary of Anne Frank, Hamlet, Follies, Fortune's Fool, A Christmas Carol, Three Days of Rain, Stomp and The Vagina Monologues.  He also handled productions for The Royal National Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company and the New York theater companies Signature Theatre and Playwrights Horizons.  

A few of the many notable performers he worked with were Sir Ian McKellan, Ralph Fiennes, Carol Burnett, Patrick Stewart, Frank Langella, Nigel Hawthorne, Christopher Walken, Alan Bates, Cherry Jones, Sean Combs and Julia Roberts.  He is survived by his longtime companion Stacy Shane as well as sisters Mary Ann Brendler, Susan D'Agostino, Katherine Hoffnagle, Elizabeth Frare and Nancy Case, 3 nephews and 6 nieces.  He was also brother to the late Jeanne DeCola.  

Mr. Fennell was a graduate of Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, as well as Fordham University and New York University Tisch School of the Arts. He was an adjunct lecturer at Brooklyn College.  A wake will be held Wednesday, November 15 and Thursday, November 16, 2-4PM and 7-9 PM at The Whalen & Ball Funeral Home, 168 Park Avenue, Yonkers, NY (914) 965-5488, www.whalenandballfh.com. A funeral service will be held on Friday, November 17 at 10:30 AM at the Monastery Church of the Sacred Heart, 110 Shonnard Place, Yonkers, NY.   

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Robert A. Fennell Scholarship at Brooklyn College, which was established by the college in Mr. Fennell's name for a first-year management student in Brooklyn College's MFA program.  www.brooklyn.cuny.edu.

Fennell will be sorely missed by all of those who knew and worked with him over the years.