Patricia L. Tobin, 65; public relations pioneer in Los Angeles

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Patricia L. Tobin, 65; public relations pioneer in Los Angeles


By Jocelyn Y. Stewart, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer


In a city of millions, where knowing the right person can mean the
difference between realizing a dream and watching it wither, Pat
Tobin
was one of the people to know.


Without the Hollywood pretense -- the air kisses, the "Have your
people call my people" -- Tobin brought people together: entertainers
with their audiences, sellers with buyers, communities in need with
those possessing cash.


For 25 years in Los Angeles [California] she was viewed by many as a
queen of public relations, master of the fine art of networking, and
guru of event planning, particularly among the city's African
Americans.


The work took her across a spectrum of the city, from Hollywood
[California] to South Los Angeles [California]. In that disparate
landscape she developed a long list of clients who recognized her as
a
bridge linking them to whomever they needed to know. But most often
they came to see her as a friend -- who happened to have one of the
city's best Rolodexes.


Tobin, who was also co-founder of the National Black Public Relations
Society, died of cancer Tuesday [June 10, 2008] at Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center in Los Angeles. She was 65.


"She will be remembered for opening the doors to new possibilities,"
said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), a longtime friend. "She's a
pioneer who opened up opportunities for African Americans to take on
major corporate accounts in ways that had not been done before."


The first door she opened was one for herself. Patricia L. Tobin was
born February 28, 1943, in White Plains, New York, and raised there
and in Philadelphia. She graduated from Overbrook High School, later
earned an associate's degree from the Charles Morris Price School of
Journalism and moved to Los Angeles in 1977


Tobin landed at job at KCBS-TV Channel 2 when it was still KNXT,
where
she organized a successful event for sportscaster Jim Hill in the
early 1980s. It marked the start of her weekly Thursday "media
nights"
or "journalist jams," where people "would come, mix and mingle,
exchange business cards and develop friendships," said Tobin's
daughter, Lauren, of Panther PR.


But Tobin realized the limited opportunities for minorities in her
field. It was a time when few corporations and advertisers
acknowledged African American consumers and their buying power. She
left her job and in 1983 started Tobin & Associates. Her then-teenage
daughter was headed to college soon.


"We're going to starve," Lauren Tobin remembered saying. Pat Tobin
said: "You watch."


What Lauren witnessed was Tobin transforming those attributes that
seemed to come naturally to her -- a vibrant personality, a ready
smile, a desire to help worthy endeavors succeed -- into a business.


"She wanted everybody to benefit. She worked for the win-win," said
Tracy Underwood, a friend and an official at Toyota.


In 1987 when the prime minister of Japan made disparaging comments
about African Americans and African American leaders protested, Tobin
saw opportunity. She approached Japanese businesses, including
Toyota,
which hired her company to work on brand building, community
relations
and publicity in ethnic communities.


"She opened doors for us where it would have been much more difficult
for Toyota to have a presence," said Irv Miller, group vice
president,
corporate communications, for Toyota Motor Sales.


While developing a client list that over the years would include
Spike
Lee, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. and Louis Gossett Jr., she mentored
scores
of students and professionals. She was a constant presence in the
life
of the community, volunteering her services, "whether it was on Free
South Africa or issues of healthcare or police accountability," said
state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas. "That says a lot about who she was."


With the Black Journalists Assn. of Southern California, Tobin helped
organize conferences, used her contacts to help raise thousands of
dollars in scholarship funds and secured speakers for events, said
Gayle Pollard-Terry, a member of the association's board and former
Times staff writer.


Tobin knew so many people, she made the city seem smaller, more
welcoming.


"She wasn't all about self," Underwood said. "She really tried to
make
you feel like you were a part of her inner circle even if you just
met."


In addition to her daughter, Tobin is survived by a grandson, Aaron
Curry; a brother, William Randolph, and a sister, Daisy Tinson, both
of Philadelphia [Pennsylvania]; and several nieces and nephews.