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Public Relations Executive Bob Sells Dies at 84

4 min read

(Editor’s Note: A correction has been made to this article. See the end of the article for details.)

Bob Sells of Little Rock, a longtime public relations executive and community activist, died Monday. He was 84.

A memorial service is planned for 3 p.m. Wednesday at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church in Little Rock, with a reception to follow. Ruebel Funeral Home of Little Rock is handling the arrangements, and the family requests that memorials be made to the Pulaski Heights United Church-Music Ministry/Sanders Foundation or to the Robert K. Sells Scholarship in Journalism at the University of Missouri.

Sells is survived by his wife of 60 years, Georgia; children Stacy Sells and Mike Sells and their spouses; granddaughters Emily Sweeney, Olivia Abernathy and Allyson Gattin and their husbands; granddaughter Anna-Lee Pittman; and three great-grandchildren.

Several family members followed in his footsteps. Mike Sells is owner and CEO of the Sells Agency, which Bob Sells founded following his retirement from Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. in 1990. Stacy Sells is a freelance communications strategist, researcher and public relations writer. She left CJRW of Little Rock as senior vice president of strategic planning after 17 years with the firm.

Granddaughter Allyson Gattin also earned a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and is director of marketing and engagement for the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. Her sister, Anna-Lee Pittman, is community engagement director at the Arkansas Foodbank.

Mike Sells said his daughters, Emily Sweeney and Olivia Abernathy, were also inspired by his dad to pursue careers in public service as a teacher and social worker, respectively.

“We were just talking about how my dad had compassion for others, but he didn’t stop there. He added passion to that compassion, and put action to it to try to make a difference,” Mike Sells said. “And I would say that that’s a high bar for all of us to try to reach to but it was well worth it to have had that example.”

He added that his mom said her husband didn’t receive awards for being a good family man, husband, father and grandfather but “that’s the best award he should have gotten, that he would have received.”

Bob Sells was born on Oct. 29, 1932, in Kansas City, Missouri. Following service in the Air Force during the Korean War, he enrolled at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, where he was awarded the Eugene Fields Scholarship and inducted into Kappa Tau Alpha and Sigma Delta Chi.

Sells moved to Texas after he graduated to serve as public relations director for the Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce. He was later hired as executive director of the South Jefferson County United Way and named Outstanding Young Businessman by the YMCA in Texas.

He met Georgia in Texas when they were cast opposite each other in a community theater play. They married six months later, in 1957.

In 1961, Sells was hired by the PR department of Southwestern Bell. His family moved to Little Rock, and he launched a 30-year career with Southwestern Bell. Sells wrote a weekly column for the Arkansas Gazette and taught public relations classes at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

He was an active leader in the Public Relations Society of America, serving as chapter president, Southwest District director and on the board of directors for the Foundation for Public Relations Research & Education in New York.

Sells launched the annual Prism Award competition and was inducted into the national PRSA College of Fellow, which has recognized only 350 public relations professionals in the nation. He also received the Communicator of the Year Award in 2011 from the Arkansas Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators.

Sells helped organize the Arkansas Chapter of Sigma Delta Chi (now the Society of Professional Journalists), serving as treasurer of for many years and as business manager of the bi-annual spoof the Farkleberry Follies, for which he was also a regular cast member.

He also volunteered for or served on the board of the Arthritis Foundation, United Way of Pulaski County, Arkansas Opera Society (now Wildwood for the Performing Arts), Camp Aldersgate, Arkansas Med Camps and America Field Service.

Then-Gov. Bill Clinton appointed Sells to the Arkansas Literacy Commission.

Sells also served two terms as president of the Arkansas Gerontological Society. Three governors appointed him to the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Aging, which he chaired for two years.

Sells served on the inaugural advisory board of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences-Reynolds Institute on Aging. In 1995, he was appointed by then-U.S. Sen. David Pryor to represent Arkansas at the White House Conference on Aging.

Sells and his wife also supported the Clinton Presidential Library. He wrote its first volunteer application, developed the first volunteer training program and recruited, interviewed and trained almost 450 inaugural volunteers. He served as a tour guide on Fridays.  

Sells was also involved in his church, Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church.

Memorials to the Sells Scholarship may be sent to the University of Missouri School of Journalism, 193 Neff Hall, Columbia, MO 65211.

(Correction: A previous version of the story said Bob Sells’ memorial service was planned for 3:30 p.m., but a family member said it will be held at 3 p.m.)

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