Pioneering fashion model and journalist Gail O’Neill was found deceased in her Atlanta home on October 10. She was 61.
O’Neill’s death was confirmed by her representative, Click model agent Stephanie Grill, per The Hollywood Reporter. No cause of death was given, but ArtsATL reported that she “had courageously fought a serious illness over the past two years.”
“People just loved her,” Grill told WWD. “They would re-book her and re-book her. She was a major beauty with this beautiful personality – so authentic and kind. And she really had so much integrity. She would have had five or six jobs a day if she could. She had so many options. Everybody wanted to work with Gail O’Neill.”
O’Neill is pictured with the late designer Willi Smith in a photo shoot for his last fall collection in 1987.
She worked with fashion brands like Michael Kors, J. Crew, Donna Karan, Perry Ellis, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren.
O’Neill was discovered by photographer Chuck Baker and his stylist wife Martha, who approached her at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York in 1985. She was doing marketing for Xerox at the time.
She appeared on the covers of British Vogue, American Vogue and Italian Vogue, Mademoiselle, Elle, Glamour, Ebony and Essence, and she was featured on Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue.
Later, she transitioned into journalism and worked as a TV correspondent for CBS, CNN and HGTV.
O’Neill moved to Atlanta and began working with ArtsATL in 2014.
“This is such a devastating loss,” ArtsATL Executive Editor Scott Freeman said. “She had the ability to take a reader along for the ride on her journey of discovery.”
O’Neill is survived by her husband, Paul E. Viera; mother, Elaine O’Neill; sister, Denise O’Neill; and brother, Randy O’Neill.
