By Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 4, 2008
Susan Hager, 63, the founder of a Washington public relations firm and an advocate for female business owners and small-business entrepreneurs, died July 26 at her home in Washington. She had complications of polycystic kidney disease.
In 1973, Mrs. Hager and business partner Marcia Sharp overcame financing frustrations to open Hager Sharp Inc. with about $2,000 and one client.
She wanted to control her destiny and be her own boss at a time when it was not easy for women to do so, said her daughter, Elizabeth Finley. "She wanted to make it better for herself and other women."
Over the years, the social-marketing firm grew to provide communications services to nonprofit organizations and government agencies. It focused on changing public attitudes, beliefs and behaviors in the areas of health, education and safety. Sharp retired from the business in 1993.
Under Mrs. Hager's leadership, the firm conducted the first public education and outreach efforts to encourage women to take advantage of mammography and has helped raise national awareness of the diabetes epidemic through the National Diabetes Education Program.
Mrs. Hager embodied teamwork and collaboration, said Garry Curtis, who succeeds her as president of Hager Sharp.
He said earlier this year that she celebrated the firm's 35th anniversary with her 40-person staff and converted the firm to an employee stock owner program to ensure the company's continued independence.
Mrs. Hager, who had a difficult time securing bank financing for her company, used her experience to help found the National Association of Women Business Owners in 1974. She served as the first president of the organization, which now has 8,000 members in 80 chapters.
"When we started Hager Sharp, we felt like we were the only women out there," she said in a recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce publication. "Through NAWBO, women business owners were able to meet and turn to one another for support and information."
Mrs. Hager, who was described as "a mover and shaker and a doer," advocated on Capitol Hill and with federal agencies and local government for women and small-business owners.
She testified before U.S. Senate and House committees, the D.C. Council and the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. She met with presidents Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton and urged them to change the business operating environment for female business owners and small-business entrepreneurs.
She was one of 25 people "whose actions over the last quarter century have given women in the workplace a better shot," Working Woman Magazine said in 2001.
Susan Kulka Hager was born in Washington, the oldest of seven children, and grew up in Owensboro, Ky. She received a bachelor's degree in sociology from Brescia College in Owensboro in 1966 and became a VISTA volunteer in White Mountain, Alaska, starting a newspaper and a Head Start program there.
Returning to Washington in 1967, Mrs. Hager became a recruiter for VISTA and the Peace Corps. She later was a program analyst for the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity and program director for the National Center for Voluntary Action.
Mrs. Hager was active in numerous national and local organizations. She served as president of National Small Business United (now the National Small Business Association), chaired the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Small Business Advisory Council and was on the National Advisory Council of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
After the Lab School of Washington engaged Hager Sharp to help with fundraising, Mrs. Hager made the school one of her causes. She was appointed to the board of trustees and served as chair and president for more than a decade.
Under her leadership, the school completed a capital campaign to dramatically improve its facilities to meet the needs of students with learning disabilities. The school also added a campus in Baltimore.
In 2001, Mrs. Hager's activities were sidelined for a while when she needed a kidney transplant. When no family member could provide a donor match, the firm's administrator volunteered.
"She's the best boss I ever had, and I kind of wanted to keep her around for a while," Karen Cassiday had said.
Among her honors, Mrs. Hager was inducted into the Public Relations Society of America's National Capital Chapter Hall of Fame in 2005 and the National Women's Hall of Fame of the National Association of Women Business Owners in 2000.
In addition to her daughter, of Philadelphia, survivors include her husband of 40 years, Eric Hager of Washington; a sister; four brothers; and two grandchildren.