Jack Harned, APR, former senior partner.

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Jack Harned, APR, former senior partner at AutoCom Associates, passed away in early 2024. He was formerly responsible for strategic communications for top management at General Motors.

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During his 35-year career at GM, he also directed GM’s international public relations programs based in Detroit and European public relations based in London and Brussels.

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He previously managed GM’s news media relations in Detroit for automotive and environmental matters and in Washington, D.C. for corporate and regulatory issues.

He also was corporate communications director for GM Hughes Electronics Corporation and PR director for GM’s former AC Electronics Division which included work on NASA’s Apollo program.

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Prior to his GM career, Harned was a newspaper reporter in Madison, Wisconsin, and press secretary to U.S. Senator William Proxmire in Washington, D.C.

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Harned was an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America and was inducted into its Detroit chapter Hall of Fame in 2009.

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He also served on boards of the Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Automotive History Collection and the Detroit Association of Phi Beta Kappa.

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Jack Harned personified what it means to be a true gentleman. He always managed to see the very best in everyone who came into his life. He battled cancer for more than 10 years without a word of complaint and will be sorely missed by everyone who was fortunate enough to know him.