The fund industry learned the sad news this week that L. Erick Kanter, a founder of a public relations firm focusing on the mutual fund industry, died suddenly before the Thanksgiving holiday. Kanter was 62 years old and died from a brain aneurysm.

Kanter was the president of Arlington, Virginia-based Kanter & Associates, LLC a firm that he founded in 1995 after a spending a career working in journalism and public relations.

Victoria Odinotska, said that the firm will continues to operate and respond to media requests and inquiries on behalf of the company's clients.

Before founding Kanter & Associates he headed the Investment Company Institute's Public Information and Marketing Department for nearly 11 years from 1984 to 1995. While at the ICI he worked with American University and organized the national Journalism Awards Program for Excellence in Personal Finance Reporting in 1987.

Kanter joined the ICI from the Federal government, where he held a number of information and public affairs posts. During the Nixon administration he organized and directed national media relations programs for the Federal Wage-Price Control Program. He also served the White House Conference on Balanced National Growth and Economic Development, the President's Commission on the Coal Industry and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, Kanter was a reporter with Newsweek magazine's Houston Bureau before moving to the magazine's Boston bureau. He also served as a Navy public information officer in Saigon and the Pentagon during the Vietnam War.

Kanter was a member of the National Press Club and served on a special advisory committee to the National Press Foundation in Washington, DC. He was a board member and served as National Treasurer of the US Navy Public Affairs Alumni Association.

A memorial service will be held at 2:30 p.m. EST Dec. 5 at St. John Lutheran Church, 211 Hickory St., New Ulm, Texas. Donations in his honor may be made to the National Press Foundation through its website, NationalPress.org.  

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