The Washington Post

December 11, 2000, Monday, Final Edition

PR Strategist John Mongoven Dies
SECTION: METRO; Pg. B06
LENGTH: 293 words
John O'Connor "Jack" Mongoven, 62, a founder and the chairman of the Mongoven, Biscoe &
Duchin public relations firm in Washington, which helps multinational business mold public
opinion on public policy matters, died Dec. 9 at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital. He had lung
cancer.
Mr. Mongoven was a former Chicago journalist who did public affairs work for the old
Department of Health, Education and Welfare and the Republican National Committee.
In the 1980s, he did consulting work for Nestle when the company was under attack for how it
marketed its infant formula in Third World countries. He also was a founder and senior vice
president of the Pagan International consulting firm before starting his present corporate
strategy business in 1988.
Mr. Mongoven, who lived in Alexandria, was a Chicago native and a graduate of Quincy College in
Illinois. He was briefly a reporter at the Chicago Tribune and then from 1965 to 1969 rose from
reporter to executive editor of Pioneer Newspapers, a chain in suburban Chicago.
From 1969 to 1973, he worked for Illinois Gov. Richard B. Ogilvie and became assistant on policy
and public affairs.
Mr. Mongoven moved to the Washington area in 1973 as deputy assistant secretary for public
affairs at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, where he played a role in shaping
Title IX to include banning sex discrimination in athletics. In 1975, he became public affairs
counsel at the Treasury Department, and in 1978, he did work for the Committee of Americans
for the (Panama) Canal Treaties.
Survivors include his wife since 1966, Monica Mongoven of Alexandria; two sons, John Jr. and
Bartholomew, both of Arlington; a daughter, Elizabeth Mongoven of Boston; a sister; and a
brother.