Shura Bary, longtime PR rep to air freight industry, dies

From the late 1960s onward, he represented numerous air freight carriers and forwarders in old fashioned way.

   Shura Bary died at his home in San Francisco with his wife Ann by his side on Aug. 6 from complications of diabetes. He was 85.
   He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1930 and graduated from New York University.
   He started his journalism career covering Broadway theater. From there, he joined the public relations division of a large advertising company in New York and his first client was Emery Air Freight, followed by Airborne.
   In the 1970s, he moved to San Francisco and set up The Bary Group. He rapidly became the publicist for numerous air freight carriers and freight forwarders, including Burlington Northern  Airfreight, Profit Freight Systems, Consolidators International Inc., Circle, Rightoway, Target Airfreight, Lep, Geo Logistics, DGX and Express Air Unlimited. He even represented a San Francisco bank and a Los Angeles toy company for many years. 
   Until his death, he continued to craft press releases and other commercial write-ups for the air freight industry.
   “The industry will be poorer for his musing always ghost written and credited to others,” said Julian Keeling, chief executive officer of Consolidators International, Inc.
   In addition to his wife, Bary is survived by two sons, Andrew and Brian, and four granddaughters.