Remember those ads for Isaly’s “chipped-chopped ham” or sweet “Aunt Penny,” who did the TV commercials for Kenny Ross auto dealerships, proclaiming: “You always get plenty from Kenny?”

Jane Arkus was part of the advertising team that came up with those iconic ideas — and many more.

A creative thinker and award-winning writer, Jane Arkus was a pioneering feminist in her work as a marketing executive who also helped to develop the Downtown Cultural District and the city at large as a tourist destination.

“She was one of the most creative people I’ve ever known. She was part of that ‘Mad Men’ era,” said her longtime friend Edith “Toto” Fisher.

When Ms. Arkus was inducted into the Pittsburgh Ad Club’s Hall of Fame, they wrote a fitting tribute, said Mrs. Fisher, that read:

“She possesses an unwillingness to accept anything less than perfection; an unfailing ability to conjure up the memorable breakthrough idea; and a naive sophistication that makes her a truly one of a kind writer, editor, lyricist, producer and ad person.”

Ms. Arkus, 93, died peacefully at her Shadyside home on Aug. 31 after a recent decline in her health.

At her side was longtime friend, caregiver and companion Wendy Thomas.

“She loved doing jingles and writing,” Ms. Thomas said. “She was even on the set of the ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ with George Romero. She helped to write and produce the film.”

Ms. Arkus, nee Callomon, grew up in Squirrel Hill and graduated from Winchester Thurston School before earning a bachelor’s degree cum laude from Vassar in 1950.

She passed up better paying and more prestigious jobs as a fashion coordinator at Kaufmann’s and a member of the team that was rolling out a new vehicle — the Edsel — for one at a small radio station “for lunch money and car fare,” Ms. Arkus said in a November 1982 story in the Post-Gazette.

By 1951, she accepted a job as a copywriter for Lando Inc., where in just two short years, she rose to become the Pittsburgh ad company’s director of television and radio.

In 1959, she was appointed vice president and creative director, a position she held until the firm was merged in 1978 with Burson-Marsteller, also a company headquartered Downtown.

Ms. Arkus maintained her title at Burson-Marsteller, eventually becoming senior creative director as well as vice president, until she left in 1992 to work as an independent media and marketing consultant.

The long, odd hours and constant travel ruined any chance at a social life until the early 1970s, when she met Leon Arkus, then director of the Carnegie Museum of Art.

The couple met at a dinner honoring Mr. Arkus at the museum. Ms. Arkus almost didn’t go, but was eventually convinced by her mother to attend at the last minute, Ms. Thomas recalled.

During the gala, Mr. Arkus noticed her admiring a painting by Chinese-American artist Walasse Ting.

“He told her, ‘If you purchase that, I will come to hang it in your home,’” Ms. Thomas said. “So, she did and he came to her apartment as promised. They got married about a year later at her parents’ home.”

During a time when feminism wasn’t always widely accepted, Ms. Arkus was grateful for her relationship with her husband, she said in the 1982 PG story.

“Thank God, he’s always been a feminist,” she said. “There are a lot of pressures on two-career marriages.”

“They fell in love quickly — it was a very deep love affair,” said Mrs. Fisher, a longtime trustee at the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Andy Warhol Museum. “They loved to take walks and hold hands. He adored her and vice versa.”

The couples often traveled together and shared some unforgettable adventures, Mrs. Fisher said.

“I knew her for over 50 years,” she said. “We were very close friends. She and her late husband and my late husband Jim and I were great friends. She produced little skits, poems or lyrics to a Broadway musical and she would change the words to honor someone at a birthday or anniversary party. She did this for us a number of times. We had such wonderful times together. She was just witty and fun and appreciated by all ages.”

Her work won Ms. Arkus many regional and national awards over the years, including a “Clio” for TV advertising in 1969 and an “Addie” from the American Advertising Federation.

But the piece de resistance for Ms. Arkus came in 2000, when she was named “Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania,” by Gov. Tom Ridge, who described her as “A distinguished executive with an international marketing firm in Pittsburgh,” who “generously contributed her talent to a wide range of civic, cultural and educational organizations in Western Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, WQED and the Urban League of Pittsburgh and has been a key leader in promoting regional tourism.”

Along with her day job, Ms. Arkus often wrote lyrics for plays and musicals, including “Open Season,” by the Pittsburgh Playhouse in the 1960s.

She served on many local boards, including the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, where she had the distinction of being the longest-serving active board member, according to Mrs. Fisher, who served with her on the board.

“She joined the board in 1987, shortly after it was created and she was active right until this summer as a member of the executive committee,” said J. Kevin McMahon, president and CEO of the Cultural Trust. “She was on several of our key boards, including the marketing advisory board and our development committees. For many years, she co-chaired our district design committee.”

She was an indispensable champion for the arts and Downtown, Mr. McMahon recalled.

“As a lifelong Pittsburgher, she understood the role the Cultural Trust played in the development of the Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural District and its critical role as a catalyst to help revitalize Downtown, not just as an arts organization, but a civic organization. She never let us forget that. One of the things I could count on with Jane was her being candid. Being kind and forthright is a rare combination, but Jane managed to do that. She was just a wonderful person.”

Ms. Arkus loved to look her best at all times, with heels, perfectly coiffed hair and — always — lipstick. It could be imposing, Ms. Thomas said.

“When I first met her, I was scared to death of her,” she said, laughing at the memory. “But, it didn’t last. She was a lovely, lovely woman with a very good sense of humor. You either got her or you didn’t, and I got her.”

The duo traveled to shows and concerts at the Pittsburgh City Theatre, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Broadway, where they would stop at the home of a friend of Ms. Arkus’ who lived on Park Avenue in Manhattan.

“I called Jane the ‘Countess of Coventry,’ because she lived on Coventry Road,” Ms. Thomas said. “She was always a very elegant, proper speaking lady. She’s been such a part of my life and generous with me in so many ways. I already miss her so much.”

Ms. Arkus was preceded in death by her husband and her brother James V. Callomon.

Contributions may be made to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, 803 Liberty Ave., Pittsburgh 15222, or Carnegie Museum of Art, 4400 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh 15213.

Janice Crompton: jcrompton@post-gazette.com.

First Published: September 14, 2022, 11:00 p.m.
Updated: September 15, 2022, 10:22 a.m.