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Mary Dunn

Mary Dunn, of Essex, and Vero Beach, Florida, died on July 5, after suffering complications from a massive seizure. She was 76 years old. Mary was born and raised in Camden, South Carolina, the daughter of Roderick H. Cantey and Barbara (Zemp) Cantey.

She attended high school at Ashley Hall in Charleston. She adored her time there and credited the school for fostering her avid interest in theater. She scored 1600 on her SATs and, in 1964, was accepted to Radcliffe, but her father insisted on Virginia’s Sweet Briar College instead. She majored in military and diplomatic history there and appeared in a number of theatrical productions — most notably Antigone. But she was rocketed into the fourth dimension when she traveled to the Sorbonne in Paris for her junior year abroad. Food, fashion, beauty, and art were hers for the devouring. She pranced around in mini dresses and false eyelashes, emulating Twiggy, smoking Gauloises cigarettes, and having the time of her life. She was even briefly engaged to an Englishman. After graduating from Sweet Briar, she settled in Manhattan landing her first job as an ad trafficker for NBC. It was this job that introduced her to her husband of 53 years, an ad executive for Grey Advertising at the time, Toby Dunn. She left NBC to join Time magazine as a picture researcher and, from there, went on to become one of the founding staff members of People magazine. In fact, she got to People before there was a People, and was there when the first 35-cent issue came out, dated March 4, 1974. Her role as picture editor for the magazine was crucial to its success. With her colleagues in the photo department, she attracted the world’s best photographers and practically invented a unique style of story-telling in black and white photography (and later color). She was smart, tough, funny, creative, a good negotiator, worthy of respect and trust, and serious when she had to be. She had fresh ideas for photos even after 14 shoots with Farrah Fawcett. She had the patience and knowledge to get a good cover out of difficult subjects. She’s also credited with People’s “Sexiest Man Alive” issue, as it was she who exclaimed it humorously in the layout room looking at a picture of Mel Gibson in 1985. When Mary left People to become the Director of Photography for Entertainment Weekly in 1994, People was one of the most successful magazines in the world. Her contribution was inestimable.

In addition to dedicating the last decade of her 30-year Time Inc. career to Entertainment Weekly, Mary covered Olympics ceremonies in Lake Placid and Tokyo. Upon her retirement, Jess Cagle, EW’s then editorial director, described her as an elegant, southern spitfire who spoke her mind freely. Mary suffered a brain aneurysm in 1999, shortly after her retirement, the aftereffects of which periodically affected her. She was fortunate to spend much of her life in Manhattan — a city she adored for all of its rich offerings — and she spent the last 24 years traveling, wintering in Harbour Island in the Bahamas, and enjoying a slower, less hectic pace of life with her two cats always by her side.

She is predeceased by her brother Roderick H. Cantey Jr. (Roddy) and survived by her husband, Henry E. “Toby” Dunn III; daughter Muffie Dunn; two sisters, Barbara Cantey and Claudia Bell; sister-in-law Janice Cantey; son-in-law Patrick Sweeney; and three grand-stepchildren, Brooke, Caroline, and Finton Sweeney.

A graveside service is scheduled at 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 15, at Quaker Cemetery in Camden, South Carolina, followed by a reception at The Steeplechase Museum. There will be a memorial service in Old Lyme later this summer.

As Landon Jones, former managing editor of People put it, “We loved Mary and all she represented — smarts, charm, high spirits, and a kind heart.” She will undoubtedly be missed by all who had the good fortune to know her.