Cadwell, Agency Owner, Dies at 70

NEW YORK Franchellie Margaret Cadwell, one of the first women to own a national agency, died at home in New York on May 25. Cadwell, known in the advertising world as Frankie, died of cancer at the age of 70.

An award-winning copywriter and author who helped change the way women were depicted in advertising, she was also successful in promoting an image of older people as vital and active. Her company, Cadwell Davis Partners in New York, represented Johnson & Johnson, Deutsche Bank, AARP’s Modern Maturity magazine, GE Capital, ExxonMobil and other major advertisers.

Her first advertising agency, a partnership with Jane Trahey, was called Trahey/Cadwell. In 1963, Hal Davis and Cadwell left that agency to form Cadwell Davis. The shop enjoyed rapid growth and was acquired by Saatchi & Saatchi in 1983, the first acquisition in the U.S. by the British agency. Cadwell and Davis bought back the agency in 1994.

Born April 23, 1933, in Hamilton, Bermuda, Cadwell received a B.S. degree from Cornell University and an M.B.A. degree in marketing from the New York University Graduate School of Business. She remained active at Cornell and was one of the founding members of the President’s Council of Cornell Women, whose mission is to develop and further women’s leadership roles at the university.

Cadwell was on the Board of Trustees of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, the Arthritis Foundation and the New York chapter of the Girl Scouts of America. She also was a member of the New York Landmark Conservancy.

CDP did public service advertising for the Association for Retarded Citizens, the Humane Society of New York, the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., Prevention of Teenage Pregnancy and the New York Cornell Hospital Women’s Health Center.

Her public service honors included the Matrix Award from the New York chapter of Women in Communications and various awards from the Girl Scouts of America, YWCA, Women in the Arts, Advertising Women of New York, American Woman’s Economic Development, Advertising Association of American and the AARP.

A nephew, Nick Cadwell in Sydney, Australia, and cousins Leona O’Grady of Tuckerton, N.J., and Dorothy Healey of Proctorville, Vt., survive her.

A memorial service will be held Friday, June 13 at 10:30 am at the Churtch of St. Thomas Moore, 65 East 89th St. in Manhattan.