Lili Ungar, a former Hollywood publicist and teacher, died Sunday in Vietnam, where she had been living and teaching English for several years, according to her Facebook page.
Ungar, who served as a VP at PMK and later at BWR in the 1980s and ’90s, founded her own eponymous public relations firm in 1991 specializing in entertainment, corporate and multi-media clients.
A graduate of UCLA, she returned to her alma mater as an instructor in the UCLA Extension’s School of Journalism, PR and Fundraising. There, she taught courses in PR writing and management as well as elements of publicity, according to her LinkedIn page.
In a post her personal blog on May 29, Ungar wrote that she was checking into a hospital in Hanoi — where she had moved several years ago to teach English — for an undisclosed ailment following jaw surgery in February.
“I think this is the most unhappy period in my life,” she wrote. “My heath is poor, and some many things just don’t work in Hanoi.”
On January 1, she was in a more reflective mood on her blog: “I know the award season is coming up in Hollywood, and I really do miss attending the Golden Globes and the Oscars. The[y] were hectic, but oh so much fun, and I felt so lucky to … work them.”
Ungar is survived by her husband, Victor Abbey.