ATLANTA, GEORGIA: Gail O'Neill, the fashion model and broadcast journalist, has died at the age of 61. The cause of her death has not yet been determined, according to her longtime agent Stephanie Grill who broke the news to WWD.
As a fashion icon, Gail helped to improve diversity on runways, in campaigns, and in advertising in the 1980s and '90s.
Early career of Gail O'Neill as a fashion model
Gail was born and raised in Westchester County, New York, and entered the corporate world after college with a marketing job at Xerox. It was then that she was discovered by Chuck and Martha Baker, a photographer and stylist.
A glittering career awaited Gail as a model as she fronted brands from Diet Coke to Avon and magazines like Essence and Mademoiselle. Under the editorship of Franca Sozzani, Gail also posed in the famous 2008 'Black Issue' of Vogue Italia.
In an interview with the American Museum Of Natural History, Gail once mused, "Beauty, or a lack of it, was not something I ever thought about as a young child. In fact, I think children are far more adept at perceiving true beauty because they haven’t been corrupted by outside forces. Likewise, the older we get, and the more we buy into mass media’s definition of beauty, the more likely we are to find fault with ourselves and others."
As one of the top models of the 1980s, Gail was featured on the covers of some of the best fashion magazines including Glamour, Elle, and Vogue. She posed for some of the most celebrated names in fashion photography, including Patrick Demarchelier, Annie Leibovitz, Steven Meisel, and even Ansel Elgort's father Arthur.
Designers for whom Gail modeled included the likes of Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Perry Ellis, Marc Jacobs, and Michael Kors.
Along with Naomi Campbell, Gail was an early part of the Black Girls Coalition, an advocacy group for black models founded by Iman and Bethann Hardison.
"She did it all and at a time when it was difficult to get Black girls on anything. Clients would badger me with calls, hoping for a cancellation. I would tell them, 'No, you have to get someone else,'" said Grill, according to the Daily Mail.
Gail O'Neill joined broadcast journalism at the end of the 1990s
She started off with a stint at the new 'Early Show' on CBS. Gail then moved on to work for nationally known news organizations such as CNN and HGTV.
Later, she settled in Atlanta and worked as an editor-at-large at ArtsATL till her final days.
Arts ATL executive editor Scott Freeman stated, "This is such a huge loss. Gail was a great journalist who cared about her craft, and the people she wrote about. She was a strong ambassador for us in addition to her stellar journalism. She was also a dear friend."
