Linda Marie Prial

Salem, OR (June 6, 2024) -- Linda Marie Prial, who enjoyed extraordinary success in both her business and non-profit careers over more than four decades, died peacefully at home here today, losing her seven-year battle with primary lateral sclerosis.  She was 78.

Born in Dover, NJ, Linda was raised in Summit, NJ, and her parents' summer home on Lake Hopatcong in the northern corner of the state.  At Summit High School, she played principal clarinet in the school orchestra and taught Sunday school at St. John's Lutheran Church.

She earned a BA degree in political science at Hood College in Maryland before embarking on a 20-year business career, first in a local personnel agency and then

Bloomingdale's Department Store in Manhattan before joining Public Service Electric & Gas Co.'s human resources department in their Newark, NJ, headquarters.  Linda rose quickly through the executive ranks during her 15 years there, eventually being named assistant treasurer for stockholder services and the first woman member of PSEG's management committee.  In 1982, the company sent her to the Harvard Business School's prestigious, 13-week Program for Management Deveopment.

While at PSEG, Linda also served on then-Governor Byrne's Commission on the Status of Women and the public advisory board of the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Corporation.  But she was most proud of her involvement with The Newark Museum of Art, long known as one of the nation's finest small art organizations, principally for its large collections of Tibetan and Japanese art pieces.  She served two terms as chair of the museum's business advisory board.

After moving in 1988 with her husband, Don, to Mendocino, CA, a small arts community on California's north coast, she quickly became involved in the Mendocino Music Festival, a fledgling classical music summer venue on the town's spectacular headlands, eventually serving as board president in 1990 and 1991, and again from 1998 through 2000.  Linda then served as chair of the Arts Council of Mendocino County from 2002 through 2004.

She and Don moved inland to Sonoma County in 2008 and Linda joined the volunteer organization of the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, concentrating on their education programs for youth.  Soon she was invited to join the center's board of directors and served from 2011 through 2014.

The Prials retired to Salem early in 2019.  Funeral services will be private.  Friends are urged to make donations in her memory either to the Mendocino Music Festival or the World Wildlife Fund.