Linda Sue Harper

Linda S. Harper, of Seminole, FL and formerly of St. Petersburg, FL died Tuesday, March 27, 2007 at Hospice House Woodside in Pinellas Park after a brief illness. She was born in Sidney, OH and came to FL in 1988 from Chicago, IL. She held leadership positions in various community organizations throughout Pinellas County. As the former Vice President of AIDS Coalition Pinellas (ACP), Ms Harper helped ACP become the largest AIDS Service Organization in Pinellas County. After completing her tenure on the board of ACP, she continued to be an activist. Her lifelong love of the arts led to her appointment by Mayor David Fischer to the St. Petersburg Arts Advisory Council. Elected as Chair in 1997, she served in that capacity for six years. The Advisory Council makes funding recommendations to the City Council submitted by various St. Petersburg arts and cultural organizations. For the past eight years she has worked on art projects with Eric Lang Peterson, St. Petersburg art appraiser. Ms Harper attended Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio, where she majored in Fine Arts and minored in Music and English and received a Bachelor's Degree. She pursued a career in journalism that began as the Assistant Managing Editor for McGraw Hill, Inc. Ms Harper oversaw the development of numerous, well-known medical publications. Subsequently she became the Executive Editor for the $6 million division of Macmillan, Inc., the Macmillan Professionals Journals. In 1988, she worked for the St. Petersburg TIMES as Copy Editor, Metro news desk, Floridian features section, and Weekend entertainment tabloid. In 1990, she became Vice President of Creative Services for Vantage Point Marketing. As such, her work included the development of medical education programs for the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Throughout her career she received a number of distinguished honors, including being a three-time recipient of the Jesse H. Neal Award for Editorial Excellence from the American Business Press, Graphis, Art Director's Annual, and Creativity and Print's Regional Design Annual. In 1991 Betty Castor, the Commissioner of the Florida Department of Education, recognized her for creating pro bono materials for Pinellas County Schools. She is survived by her partner, Dr. Kathleen Farrell; her sister Becky Cole of St. Petersburg; her step-sister Melody Schwann of Largo; her brothers Joel Harper of Seminole and Jeffrey Harper of St. Petersburg; numerous nieces and nephews and grand nieces and grand nephews. Memorials requested to: Hospice of the Florida Suncoast 5771 Roosevelt Blvd. Clearwater, FL 33760 $(document).ready(function(){ });