Tony Farrell enjoyed a long career as a marketing executive, working closely with the founding entrepreneurs of The Gap, Banana Republic, The Nature Company, The Sharper Image and other specialty retailers, catalogers and direct marketers.
A nationally recognized branding expert, Tony’s copywriting for venture-backed SelfCare Catalog: Products for Healthy Living was honored as America’s most “Outstanding Consumer Copy” by Catalog Age Magazine, the industry’s leading publication.
Over many years, Tony has provided pro bono consulting to more than 20 nonprofits through his business-school alumni association. His favorite project was for LINES Ballet, in 2019, on leveraging the brand to further understanding and engagement by the public. The first LINES performance Tony ever attended was “Biophony,” Alonzo’s 2015 collaboration with natural soundscape artist/musician Bernie Krause, a friend from Tony’s time as head merchant for The Nature Company.
Tony’s first such pro bono consulting project, for Strybing Arboretum (now San Francisco Botanical Garden), led to a 17-year term on their board, twice as vice-chair; and he continues to work with the newly organized Gardens of Golden Gate Park (now including the Japanese Tea Garden and the Conservatory of Flowers) on their finance committee.
Tony’s peripatetic early life in a military and shipping family led to many moves: His younger sister was born on Guam; his older sister graduated high school in Germany. He attended Harvard College on a Navy ROTC scholarship; served for four years as a supply officer in Norfolk and D.C.; and then entered Harvard Business School. The Gap, just eight years old with 150 stores, recruited Tony to the Bay Area; he was VP of marketing and VP of strategic planning during a decade of extraordinary growth.
An avid tennis and golf sportsman, Tony served as board president, in 2021, of Berkeley Tennis Club. His wife, Kathy Heinze, and younger daughter, Samantha, are the current USTA Super-Senior Mother-Daughter national tennis champions. Elder daughter, Morgen, is in client services at the Oakland Zoo, near Tony’s home in Montclair.
Photography: Tony Farrell | Courtesy of Tony Farrell
