Jody Powell, chairman of Powell Tate, has died. As leader of the firm, he had been instrumental in creating a public relations firm that served a client roster that includes many of the nation's prominent corporations, trade associations and nonprofit organizations.
In 1970 Powell joined gubernatorial candidate Jimmy Carter's staff. When Carter became the governor of Georgia in 1970, Powell was appointed press secretary, a position he held through the end of Carter's term as president of the United States.
From 1982 to 1987, he wrote a twice-weekly column syndicated by the Los Angeles Times and was a news analyst for ABC News, appearing on such shows as "This Week with David Brinkley", "Nightline" and "Good Morning America". He also lectured frequently on public policy and press issues.
Powell's book, The Other Side of the Story, about the press/presidency relationship, was published in 1984 by William Morrow & Company.
In 1985 and 1986, Powell held the Speaker Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Professorial Chair in American Politics at Boston College, teaching a course on the press and the presidency. From 1987 until 1991, he was chairman and chief executive officer of Powell Adams & Rinehart, formerly Ogilvy & Mather Public Affairs.
Powell was born September 30, 1943, in Vienna, Ga., and attended public schools there. He attended the U.S. Air Force Academy from 1961 to 1964 and graduated from Georgia State University with a B.A. in political science in 1966. Powell became involved in the 1970 gubernatorial campaign of Jimmy Carter, working as a volunteer, while he was in graduate school at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., where he completed course work on a combined M.A./Ph.D. in political science.
He died at the age of 65.