Andrew Freedman, a veteran publicist for the entertainment business, died on February 8 in New York. He had been diagnosed with liver cancer in August. He was 67.
Gayle King, Barbara Walters, Joan Collins, Margo Martindale, Christopher McDonald, and Harry Shearer were among the people who hired Freedman.
Before he became a publicist, Freedman worked as a communications specialist for Sen. Ted Kennedy’s 1980 presidential campaign. He then helped Sen. George McGovern in South Dakota and Reps. Jim Howard and Andy Maguire in New Jersey with their campaigns.
After running for office, Freedman worked at NBC from 1984 to 1991 and was a spokesperson for the network’s shows.
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Freedman was in charge of the network’s press operation during the U.S.-Russian summits in Reykjavik and Geneva, the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and the network’s coverage of the presidential election. He also handled media relations for NBC Nightly News, “Meet the Press,” and “Today.”
By 1990, Freedman had started Andrew E. Freedman Public Relations, which also worked with Eartha Kitt, Gretchen Carlson, Joey King, Arianna Huffington, Yara Shahidi, Pauley Perrette, Stephen Schwartz, and Billy Stritch.
Freedman worked with his wife and business partner, the actor Patty Dworkin, for 30 years. Dworkin died in 2017 of breast cancer.
Freedman was born on March 26, 1955, and he grew up in New London, Connecticut. He went to college at Boston University. Freedman’s son Alexander made a statement about his father to honor him (as per reports by Variety) –
“Andrew Freedman was kind, curious, empathetic, thoughtful, goofy, and all the other good adjectives in the dictionary. He made sure to take care of others before taking care of himself. He never forgot where he came from and he was damn sure that others didn’t either.”
“He was fiercely devoted to his family and his friends, never making a distinction between the two. He loved building relationships with his children’s friends. He was a consummate professional who would do anything for his clients. He was Dave and Mickey’s boy. He was Chris and Al’s dad. He was Patty’s man.”
Chris and Alexander, his two children, will carry on without him. On Friday at 2 p.m., there will be a memorial service at the Plaza Community Jewish Chapel on Amsterdam Avenue in New York.
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