W. Warren Armstrong February 1, 1935 - March 17, 2017

Longtime advertising executive W. Warren Armstrong, of Allentown, died Friday, March 17. He was 82.  Mr. Armstrong started Armstrong Marketing Services, a full-service advertising and marketing agency, in April 1973 and ran it for 38 years until April 2011, when he retired.  Prior to founding his own agency, he was the director of marketing at Mary MacIntosh Services Inc., a dry-cleaning services business that was based in Allentown and had six plants in Northeastern Pennsylvania and Miami, FL. Mr. Armstrong joined Mary MacIntosh in 1972 after working nine years at Lieberman Associates Inc., an advertising agency in Allentown where he had risen to senior vice president and partner.  Mr. Armstrong was born in his grandparents’ home in Moorestown, NJ, on February 1, 1935.  The son of William W. Armstrong and Helen Lloyd, he had two brothers, J. Scott, currently of Drexel Hill, PA, and H. Lloyd, currently of New Orleans, LA; and one sister, Helen “Bonnie” Lilly, who died in 2011.  He attended Dickinson College from 1953 to 1955 and had played basketball as a freshman.  It was at Dickinson in Carlisle, PA, where he was inducted into the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity in 1954.  Mr. Armstrong joined the U.S. Air Force in October 1955.  After his honorable discharge from the Air Force in September 1957, Mr. Armstrong enrolled at the Pennsylvania State University, beginning an association with an institution that he dearly loved until his death. He graduated from Penn State with a B.A. in advertising from the School of Journalism in June 1960 and went to work as a sales promotion writer for Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. in Allentown.  He married Linda Eileen Lovett in her hometown of Rochester, NY, on November 24, 1962, and they raised their three sons in Allentown.  He and Linda were longtime members of the Episcopal Church of the Mediator.  Loquacious and quick with a smile, Mr. Armstrong threw himself into the civic life of Allentown through organizations such as the Rotary Club, Sales & Marketing Executives of Allentown-Bethlehem, Lehigh Valley Hospital, the Scottish Society of the Lehigh Valley, the Adult Literacy Center of the Lehigh Valley, Cedar Crest College and his beloved Penn State.  He was one of the founders of the Allentown campus of Penn State in 1968.  He helped organize Allentown’s bicentennial celebration in 1962.  A longtime season ticketholder for Penn State football, Mr. Armstrong spent many fall weekends tailgating outside Beaver Stadium and living and dying with the team’s fortunes in the stands.  For many years, he expressed pride over how few home games he’d missed – including one against the University of Pittsburgh for his own wedding, another for the wedding of one of his sons.  He attended his last Penn State game (also against Pitt) in September 2016.  His other hobbies included golf, gourmet cooking and photography.

Survivors: Besides his wife of 54 years, Mr. Armstrong is survived by his sons: Michael Warren Armstrong and his wife Mellany of Havertown, PA; John Philip Armstrong and his partner Mike Febbo of Bethlehem, PA; and Andrew Stuart Armstrong and his wife Erika, of York, PA; as well as four grandsons, Reed, Drew, Steven and David.

Services: 10:30 A.M. Saturday in the Episcopal Church of the Mediator 1620 W. Turner St. Allentown. Call 5:30 – 8:30 P.M. Friday in the Stephens Funeral Home, Inc. 274 North Krocks Road, Allentown. Interment will be private at the convenience of the family in the Cedar Hill Memorial Park, Allentown. www.stephensfuneral.com.

Contributions: In lieu of flowers, contributions in W. Warren Armstrong’s name may be made to the Church of the Mediator, the Literacy Center 1132 Hamilton St. # 300, Allentown, 18102, or the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State 111 Sparks Building, University Park, PA 16802.