Two respected Advertising professors succumb

Dr. Fenton E. Calhoun, emeritus associate professor of communications, died July 22, 2007, after a long illness. He was 77.

A former broadcaster, tech writer and advertising copywriter in Michigan, Calhoun joined the campus in 1970 and was the first faculty member in the communications department to teach advertising full time.

He led the advertising sequence for 10 years and served as faculty adviser for the award-winning student Ad Club.

“Fenton Calhoun played a major role in the early days of the communications department,” said Dr. Rick Pullen, dean of the College of Communications and former department colleague of Calhoun’s. “His professional experience and vision in advertising helped him launch the very successful and popular concentration.”

Calhoun, who retired in 1992, earned his doctorate from Wayne State University, Michigan.

He is survived by his wife, Annette; daughter, Susan, and her husband, Tom Clark; son, David, and his wife, Devin; and five grandchildren.

Dr. Don H. Sunoo (Advertising), 76, emeritus professor of communications, died August 18 of cardiopulmonary failure due to bone cancer.

Sunoo joined the CSUF faculty in 1977 following a successful REMEMBERcareer at Foot Cone and Belding in Chicago. He received his B.A. from Seoul National University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Missouri.

A native of South Korea, Sunoo truly was a man with his feet planted both in Korea and America as well as the professional and academic worlds. His research appeared in the Social Science Quarterly, Journalism Quarterly, and the Journal of Advertising Research.

In 1987, he took a leave of absence to go to South Korea to serve as a senior campaign adviser to Kim Dae Jung, a candidate for president. Although the campaign was unsuccessful, Jung was later elected president of South Korea.

At Cal State Fullerton, Sunoo coordinated the advertising concentration, overseeing the work of four full-time and several part-time faculty members.

“He was a genuinely warm and contributing member of our faculty,” said Dean Rick Pullen. “His leadership of our advertising program was instrumental in its development as one of the strongest in the nation.”

Former student Ian Crockett, who now owns his own media-driven advertising agency with clients in over 200 markets, remembers Sunoo with high regard: “If an applicant graduated from CSUF’s communications school, I would ask them their opinion of Dr. Sunoo. If the response was negative, I knew I didn’t want that individual on my team. Having Sunoo come through my life definitely put my career on the fast track, and I will forever be deeply indebted.”

Sunoo was awarded emeritus status upon his retirement in 1994. After retirement, he remained active in the Korean-American business community in both Southern California and South Korea, providing expert consulting on advertising and strategic marketing.

Sunoo is survived by his wife, Anna; and two children, Ed, who lives in the New York City area with his wife and two children; and Julie Sanchez, who lives in Temecula.