Longtime employee was named to leadership role in 2019
MP&F Strategic Communications Managing Partner Alice Pearson Chapman died Tuesday, the public relations and marketing firm announced.
According to the company, her death was unexpected and caused by a brain aneurysm. She was 49 years old.
“Alice was unfailingly kind, a mentor to many, and relied upon by her clients and our team for her wise counsel and leadership,” MP&F wrote on social media. “Our hearts go out to her family, particularly her husband, Tom, and children, Ryan and Cate.”
Chapman was named managing partner in 2019, when she succeeded David Fox, an original partner of the firm.
“Alice was a consummate professional and a true friend,” Fox, still a partner at the firm, said in a release. “She was completely devoted to her family, and she stepped up to lead our company through some of the toughest times we’ve experienced, which she handled with a kind spirit, unwavering focus and an iron will. It is beyond sad to think she is gone. We don’t even know how much we will miss her.”
Chapman joined MP&F in 1995 after graduating from the University of Tennessee and ultimately became a senior manager and partner. She worked on behalf of health care, technology and education clients, and held numerous volunteer leadership positions, including with Communities In Schools of Tennessee. One major project during her tenure was the campaign to loosen rules related to wine sales at grocery stores.
She married Tom Chapman, an analyst at Shayne & Co., in 2004. Their children Ryan and Cate are 15 and 10, respectively.
