Obituary of Alice Joy Zea

Alice Joy Zea, 91, of Darien, formerly of Greenwich and New York, passed away on Saturday, May 1st at her home. Alice was born on January 26, 1919 in Brooklyn, NY, the daughter of Samuel and Norma Katz. (The family name was later changed to Karl.) She graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn in 1936 and in 1940 she received her B.A. in psychology from New York University. She was the first member of her family to graduate from college. Between 1940 and 1944 she worked in personnel at Bell Labs in New York, and in 1944 she married James Gwin Zea and moved to California. Returning to New York in 1945, she worked at Revlon until 1948 when her first daughter, Kristi, was born. Her second daughter, Marni, was born four years later. In 1962, Zea went to work for her brother, Arthur Martin Karl, founder and president of Names Unlimited, a list brokerage firm in New York. She worked at Names Unlimited until her brother's sudden death in 1970, and in 1971 she joined another list brokerage firm, Direct Media, located in Rye, NY. In 1976, Zea opened her own list brokerage company, AZ Lists, in Greenwich, CT. As the firm thrived over the next few years she changed the name to AZ Marketing Services, Inc., and in 1987 purchased a building on River Road in Cos Cob to accommodate the growing staff. She worked at the company daily until she sold it to 21st Century Marketing in 2000 when she was 81 years old. In 1995, Zea received the Woman of the Year Award from Women's Direct Marketing International, an organization which she helped found in 1970 (originally called the Women's Direct Response Group). In 2000 Zea received the Silver Apple Award from the Direct Marketing Club of New York. She served on the Board of Directors of the Family Centers in Greenwich, CT. Zea was considered a pioneer by women in the direct marketing industry, and throughout her professional life, she was a mentor and role model for women in business. An avid environmentalist, she took great pleasure in bird watching and gardening. In 2003 Zea moved to Atria Darien (formerly Sterling Glen) in Connecticut, where she worked with local school children in a literacy program and pursued her various community and cultural interests. Zea is survived by her daughters Kristi Zea of Valley Cottage, New York, and Marni Zea Clippinger of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and her two grand daughters, Norma Zea Kuhling, and Emma Zea Clippinger. A memorial service will be held at the Greenwich Audobon Society (613 Riversville Road) on Thursday, July 1st at 10:30 am. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her name to Gardens for Health (www.gardensforhealth.org), an organization based in Rwanda that was founded by her granddaughter, Emma. Funeral Home: Edward Lawrence Funeral Home 2119 Post Road Darien, CT USA 06820