While in Maine, she was a board member and past President of the Independence Association, board member of the Harpswell Heritage Trust, and founding member of Brunswick Area Citizens for a Safe Environment (BASCE).
At Blue Shield, Mrs. Geiger headed a department which was responsible for advertising, promotion, public and press relations, publications and health education. The New Jersey medical-surgical plan was the fourth largest in the nation at that time.
Mrs. Geiger was the first woman elected to the New Jersey Advertising Hall of Fame, to which she was named in 1983 (with George Gallup) primarily for her activities leading to the formation of the New Jersey Advertising Council, an organization which creates pro bono advertising programs for worthwhile non profit organizations through member advertising agencies.
She was a past president of the Advertising Club of New Jersey, past chairman of the New Jersey Advertising Council, chairman of the Newark (NJ) Museum Council, a New Jersey Advisory Board member to Channel 13, the metropolitan New York- New Jersey Public Television Channel, chairman of the Eastern Division Public Relations and Advertising organization of Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans and a member of the Public Relations Society of America, board member of the NJ Division of the National Society to Prevent Blindness, board member of the NJ Cancer Society.
Upon her retirement from Blue Shield she was cited by the New Jersey Legislature for her contributions in the fields of public relations and advertising. She was an early proponent of preventative health care and health care education to curtail medical costs.
Mrs. Geiger started her career as a general assignment reporter for the now defunct Newark Evening News, then New Jersey’s largest daily newspaper, becoming a feature writer and the first woman to head one of its suburban editorial bureaus. She later was director of public relations for United Hospitals of Newark, a merger of three specialty hospitals with a general hospital, creating the largest hospital in New Jersey.
In 1967 she became director of communications for the College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (now the University of Medicine and Dentistry). While in that post, riots in Newark took place, testing Mrs. Geiger’s public relations skills as the riots were partially blamed on the college having purchased large amounts of Newark property where many Afro-Americans had lived. One of the results of these actions was the creation of a dialogue between the black area residents and the medical community.
Jean was listed in a number of official Who’s Who Publications, and was the recipient of numerous state and national public relations and advertising awards for publications she wrote and for advertising and public relations programs she initiated.
She was a graduate of Milburn, NJ High School and an alumna of Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH.
Jean was especially proud of her many “firsts,” including having been the first female head cheerleader in Milburn, NJ High School. She said that girls were thought not capable of understanding football well enough to call for the correct cheers.
She loved her husband Robert, the rocky coast of Maine, bourbon and water on the rocks at five o’clock, old houses, antiques and reading the New York Times, and, especially, her beloved house Second Wind overlooking Casco Bay. She was a creative thinker, a good writer, and a problem solver. She was a fun loving gal who loved parties, entertaining, tailgate picnics, college football games, the ocean, and late night swims. She was a life-long and proud member of the Democratic party.
She was the mother of six grown children and had fifteen grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren. Her children are Merritt Lum Budd of West Rutland, VT, David W. Budd of Tewksbury, NJ, Pamela Lawrence Corvi of Stroudsburg, PA and Palm City, FLA, Stephen R. Geiger of Cold Spring, NY, Mark C Geiger of Arrowsic, ME, and Lauren Geiger Moye of Montpelier, VT. Her husband Robert, her brother Dubois Roberts and her granddaughter Laura Budd pre-deceased her.
She married Robert Geiger in 1950, and they lived for many years in Millington, NJ before moving to their home on Lombos Hole Road in Harpswell.
Of all of her accomplishments interwoven with raising six children, she cited making the 8:10 am Erie Lackawanna train to Newark each day as one of her most significant.
The Geiger-Budd family is very grateful for the wonderful care she received at Hillhouse and from the hospice folks at CHANS.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent in her memory to Harpswell Heritage Land Trust, 153 Harpswell Neck Road, Harpswell, ME 04079, www.hhltmaine.org. A memorial cocktail party will be held in coming weeks in the Bath area.
Condolences and memories can be expressed at www.brackettfuneralhome.com.
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