Soren Albert “Al” Toroian dies; well-known in public relations
By JOHN M. MCGUIRE
Of the Post-Dispatch
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Nov 24 2004
They called him “Soup” because he loved the steamy liquid, and in a
sense, he was a bowl full of interesting behaviors.
The son of Armenian immigrants who grew up in the city’s Baden
neighborhood, Soren Albert Toroian dropped out of Beaumont High
School in his freshman year. But within a decade, Al Toroian found
not only a pursuit, but a passion. He attended the University of
Missouri’s journalism school on the GI bill and emerged in just three
years with a bachelor’s degree that sent him into a career in public
relations. Over nearly a half-century he became one of St. Louis’
best-known and beloved PR practitioners.
Mr. Toroian fronted for many causes, but he was a character in his
own right – a man who not only loved soup, but also cheap cigars,
poker and gin rummy.
His friends and associates remembered him as a man who worked
tirelessly on behalf of his clients, but was never tiresome in the
way he went about it. “He was a straight shooter,” said Raymond A.
Deffry, of Clayton, a former newspaperman here and a longtime public
relations employee at the old McDonnell Douglas Corp.
“Al loved journalists,” said Patrick E. Gauen, an assistant metro
editor at the Post-Dispatch. He considered them friends, not just
targets for a pitch.
“He was as proud of his children as a father could be, and great
supporter of all young talent,” Gauen added, noting that his daughter
Diane Toroian Keaggy is a Post-Dispatch reporter.
Toroian Keaggy said that her father’s “proudest moment came when he
talked history for three hours with former President Harry S Truman
on a train from St. Louis to Sedalia.”
PR and schmoozing was Mr. Toroian’s life. He started with the National
Society of Public Accountants, and then went into his own PR business,
followed by working for railroads, such as the old Missouri Pacific
and Wabash.
In 1961, Mr. Toroian began 12 years as a vice president and account
executive for the old Winius-Brandon advertising and PR agency,
followed by a stint with the Missouri Botanical Garden.
“I’d known Al since he was working for the Wabash Railroad, and he was
an outstanding man who I think was a man of integrity, a man whose
word was his bond,” said George Killenberg, a former Globe-Democrat
managing editor.
Twenty years ago, Mr. Toroian hired Killenberg’s daughter, Susan
Killenberg McGinn, and she became a member of the Washington University
public affairs office, where Mr. Toroian spent his final 20 years in
public relations. He retired in June 1994.
“His contribution to the success of the university – both in St.
Louis and across the nation – was an important component in the
institution’s rise to greater recognition,” said M. Fredric Volkmann,
vice chancellor for public affairs.
Along with his daughter, Diane, among the survivors are another
daughter, Rosanne Toroian, of New York; a brother, Haig Toroian,
of Santa Cruz, Calif.; and his former wife, Delores Schnietz, who
married Mr. Toroian in 1967. They were divorced 29 years later but
remained devoted friends.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress