SANTA MONICA – After a brief battle with myelodysplastic syndrome, a form of leukemia, veteran publicist John Blanchette, passed away at the age of 68 on March 4 at the UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica.
With a career spanning three decades Blanchette began building his publicist career when he was an editor at the University of Harvard Press. After leaving Harvard, he focused on his education and earned a master’s degree in English literature, as well as another masters in Anglo-Irish Studies in the University Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland; that was followed by another degree in college administration from the Indiana University.
Blanchette decided to change locations and moved to Los Angeles to start working in the entertainment industry. While in Los Angeles he worked for Fox TV and KBCS Los Angeles in publicity. He later began working on writing articles on travel, wine and food as well as co-producing a TV special on Napa
Valley in the late 1990s.
Besides co-producing the Napa Valley TV special, other notable work includes working with celebrities. Blanchette is most recognized for working as a publicist for Zsa Zsa Gabor for the last 30 years of his life. He leaves behind a legacy in editing and publishing and is survived by his six brothers and two sisters as well as 10 nieces and three nephews.
