(CelebrityAccess) – Mary Ellen Cataneo, a veteran music publicist with Columbia Records and later Sony Music Entertainment, passed away this week after a battle with an aggressive form of cancer.
Early on in her career, Cataneo graduated from New York University and waited tables at a Manhattan restaurant alongside a young Jerry Seinfeld before getting her first industry job doing administration for Musician magazine.
In 1984, Cataneo joined Columbia Records where she quickly became vice president of national press and public information. During her tenure with the label, she worked with some of the biggest names in the business including the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Mathis and Harry Connick Jr., among others.
Later when the CBS label group was absorbed into Sony, Cataneo became a senior VP at SME.
She retired from the music industry in 1995 to raise her two sons James and Christopher McEwen, the latter of whose wedding she was able to attend in August.
Cataneo was 65.
