Laura Stein, a longtime resident of Montauk who had a long and distinguished career as a marketing and advertising executive, author, and fitness expert, died of cancer at home in New York City on Nov. 22. She was 75.
Born on March 8, 1946, in New Haven, Conn., to Joe and Sylvia Stein, she attended the Woodstock Country School in South Woodstock, Vt., before graduating from Prospect Hill Day School in New Haven. Dreaming of finding an exciting career, she moved to New York City in 1966 at age 20.
After an early marriage and divorce, she began a career that, without having a college degree, included positions at Vogue, Arden, and Chanel. Her first job was handling customer inquiries for IPC, a Bernie Cornfeld company. In 1967, she answered an ad for a P.R. “girl Friday” for Precis Syndicate, and took off selling. The knowledge she got there proved to be invaluable in all her future endeavors.
Ms. Stein was grateful for the influence of Naomi Levine, the director of the camp she attended as a teen, who instilled in her “girls” the importance of a life beyond a husband and family and expected them to do important, meaningful things with their lives. It was through a friend of Ms. Levine that Ms. Stein was able to interview for a job at Vogue. From Vogue, she went to Starch, then on to Benton and Bowles for Yardley, which led to Grey Advertising, where she worked on Revlon campaigns. That work took her to Elizabeth Arden, where she worked with Jim Morton, who became an important mentor and friend and hired her as the marketing manager for Chloe. After she left, Ms. Stein and Marcia Dorfman Katz wrote “How to Get a Glamour Job,” published in 1977.
Then Ms. Stein landed her dream job: director of advertising and public relations for Chanel. There she worked with the team responsible for an ad that still runs occasionally more than 25 years later — a plane flying over a pool with the tagline that Laura contributed, “Share the Fantasy.”
Ms. Stein was an early participant in est, a personal development training method founded by Werner Erhard. After resigning from her position at Chanel, she began focusing on her lifelong passion for fitness and diet, and developed a 10-day program called E.A.T.: Effective Appetite Training. So many executives from Bloomingdale’s took the course that Marvin Traub heard about it, took it, lost weight, and promoted and sold the training as the Bloomingdale’s Eat Healthy Diet, which became the title of a best-selling book written by Ms. Stein and published in 1986.
Gerald Schwartz, who remained a lifelong friend, was her second husband, subsequently followed by her marriage to the Broadway producer Eugene V. Wolsk. Together they produced the musical “Forever Plaid,” which gave them the freedom to buy a house across from the Panoramic View Resort in Montauk’s Hither Hills, where they had vacationed. It was where she was able to write every day, calling it “a challenge so absorbing and rewarding that it is all I want to do.”
Ms. Stein joined the Ashawagh Hall writers’ workshop led by M.E. Kerr, where, in the early days, Jess Gregg saved her a special seat at the table. She completed two novels, “Ordinary Obsessions” and “A Stranger in the House,” proving such an insightful participant that she was unanimously chosen to be the group’s facilitator later on. She was passionate about continuing Ms. Kerr’s legacy, and brought to her new role a deep sense of responsibility and energy until a Parkinson’s diagnosis interrupted her tenure.
In rapid succession, Ms. Stein’s niece, mother, husband, and brother died and around the same time she was “Madoffed.” In the face of adversity, she became a powerful and outspoken advocate in support of the victims of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. During this difficult time she never stopped showing up for her friends, the cats she adopted, or the feral cats she fed. She was a devoted supporter of Smile Train and the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons.
Ms. Stein resurrected Eat Healthy in Montauk, running a weekly workshop for a group that continued to expand. She was a member of the LCW writers’ group. A number of devoted relatives and friends brightened her days, including Michael Saslow, her nephew; Diane Saslow, her cousin; Eileen Stein, her sister-in-law; Gerry Schwartz, her second ex-husband; Arlene Levin, a good friend, and a circle of companions whose friendships spanned many decades in Montauk and New York. An older brother, Michael Stein, died before her. Her husband, who died in 2013, was the true love of her life, friends said. At difficult moments she had wished he were still with her because he knew well how to just listen to her, and to not try to fix things.
Ms. Stein was also a contributor to The Star’s “Guestwords” column. Writing and Montauk were central, as were her daily walks on the beach, where she knew every lifeguard on her route. “Known for her deep friendships, dependable advice, and ability to help when one was most vulnerable, she was the epitome of grace under pressure — always looking out for you, always wanting to give,” those close to her wrote.
In the very last chapter of her life, she returned to the city, spending her final days with a 17th-floor view overlooking the skyline and facing the sunrise.
A memorial service for Ms. Stein will be held in New York City in the spring, on or near her birthday, March 8.
