Founding Father Tim Traverse-Healy OBE In Memoriam
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IPRA pays its respects to Professor Tim Traverse-Healy OBE who died in Surrey on 3 April 2025 at the splendid age of 102.
He was one of the Founding Fathers of the International Public Relations Association and fulfilled many roles over the years. Tim presided as the Honourary Secretary of IPRA when it was formally established in the Cabinet Office at No.10 Downing Street, on 1 May 1955. He also served as Treasurer and was IPRA President from 1969 to 1973.
Born in 1923, Tim studied medicine before achieving a diploma in communications from London University. In 1947 upon his return from service with the Royal Marine Commandos, Tim started his public relations practice with partner, Denis Lyons. Their clients included AT&T, Airbus, Cadburys, Ford, and Unilever.
He pursued an academic life as a professor at the University of Stirling creating the UK’s first public relations master's degree. He was also a globe-trotting visiting professor to the Universities of Wales and Westminster in the UK, Ball State and Baylor in the USA, and the Aviation Management School in Toulouse, France.
His focus of ethics contributed to IPRA’s original codes of conduct of Athens and Venice. Tim was famous for explaining “the difference between a profession and a craft”. In 2013 at the age of 90 he authored a Credo, concisely explaining his principles on public relations. In that Credo Professor Tim Traverse-Healy declared that PR was only relevant when its “ingredients are truth, paramount concern for the public good and genuine dialogue.”
He was a giant in PR and the essence of IPRA.
Tim Traverse-Healy 1923 – 2025
Contact
International Public Relations Association Secretariat
United Kingdom
Telephone +44 1634 818308
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