Two prominent Sacramento women died last week – Mary Brill and Jean Runyon.
They were polar opposites in style and the groups they represented. But they both cared passionately for this community and had a notable impact upon it.
While Brill was an advocate for the poor and powerless, Runyon, mostly but not always, represented the rich and powerful.
Almost exclusively, Runyon was the doyenne of the well-connected public relations professionals in Sacramento. Founding partner of Runyon, Saltzman and Einhorn Inc., she was an acknowledged powerhouse when women seldom held real power. She represented some of the biggest movers and shakers in town.
During the nation's march up to the first Gulf War, her client list included the government of Kuwait. She once escorted a Kuwaiti prince into the Sacramento Bee editorial board room. Seated at his side, the wide-eyed Runyon beamed her legendary smile as the prince urged the board to support sending American troops to help expel Iraqi invaders from his oil-rich homeland.
Always beautifully dressed and perfectly coiffed, Runyon also used her considerable influence to raise millions for charity and the arts. The only daughter of a UC Berkeley track coach and Olympic silver medalist, Runyon was married and widowed four times. She leaves two children, four grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Mary Brill never married and had no children. She dressed modestly and frequently wore old baseball caps. But like Runyon she had a brilliant smile and a congenitally happy outlook on life.
Brill founded the Sacramento County Alliance of Neighborhoods, SCAN, a coalition of more than 100 neighborhood associations that lobbied for affordable housing, public transit, better urban planning and programs for youths.
SCAN allowed local activists to reach beyond their neighborhood boundaries and join forces in ways that strengthened their collective advocacy. Persistent but always polite, Brill was key to a vibrant explosion of grass-roots civic engagement.
In recent years she suffered from multiple sclerosis and cancer. But even as her health deteriorated, she remained active.
At one point, she was in a wheelchair and had lost her power to speak, but continued to show up at city and county planning meetings. With pad and pen, she would make her views known.
She was always cajoling, wheedling, encouraging, the very essence of democracy with a small "d."
Mary Brill was 59 when she died. Jean Runyon was 82. Both were gracious ladies with happy outlooks on life who enriched this city and the greater region. Their legacy will live on through the inspiration they offer to their many admirers.
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