Myrna Omang, 78

    Myrna Omang, a retired advertising executive, died on Feb. 1 at her Breeze Hill Road residence in East Hampton, where she had lived with her partner of 32 years, Beverly Matthews, whom she married in August 2010. She was 78 and had acute myeloid leukemia, Ms. Matthews said.

    From a career that began in Chicago, Ms. Omang became a Madison Avenue advertising executive. She had been a senior vice president and director of television and print commercial production services at Compton Advertising in Chicago; then worked for the company in New York City. Compton later became part of Saatchi and Saatchi advertising.

    For 35 years she was a pioneer in advertising, breaking barriers and forging new opportunities for the women who followed her, Ms. Matthews said. She was described as a powerful mentor, and revered in the business, from which she retired in 1994.

    She was quietly philanthropic, Ms. Matthews said, supporting individuals and progressive organizations, especially those concerned with equal rights and financial equality for women, and was delighted with the success of Rachel Maddow, the television personality.

    Ms. Omang was widely traveled, an avid and eclectic reader, and a volunteer with the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary in Indian Shores, Fla., near the couple’s winter house in Clearwater. They welcomed friends and family to both their houses with hospitality and warmth, spiced with fun and humor, Ms. Matthews said. She described Ms. Omang as a woman with a wry wit, who was able to find the absurdity and irony in life’s situations.

    Ms. Omang was born in Roseau, Minn., on April 24, 1934, to Rudolph B. Omang and the former Anne Johnson. She grew up in Grand Fork, N.D., and graduated from Northeastern University in Boston.

    A service was private.

    Memorial donations have been suggested to Planned Parenthood, 434 West 33rd Street, New York 10001; Lambda Legal, 120 Wall Street, 19th Floor, New York 10005; Mothers Against Drunk Driving at Madd.org; Suncoast Hospice Foundation, 5771 Roosevelt Boulevard, Clearwater, Fla. 33760, or Habitat for Humanity at Habitat.org.