Fundraiser who helped build Va. Beach dies at 90

VIRGINIA BEACH

"Philanthropist" may have become an overused, catch-all term.

If a new plateau were created for those whose activism goes far beyond stroking a check, Brad Pulley would have been a charter member of that club.

R. Bradshaw Pulley died Friday at age 90, a Virginia Beach fundraising champion for more than 50 years.

Pulley's print is at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, the Virginia Marine Science Museum, the Boys

and Girls Clubs of South Hampton Roads and the Virginia Beach Rescue Squad Foundation.

He was chairman or president of everything from the United Way of South Hampton Roads and Tidewater Community College to the Virginia Beach Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club.

He was the Beach's "First Citizen" in 1969. In 1982, he was "King Neptune."

When the city of Virginia Beach was new, in the 1960s, it had a long way to go to catch up to Norfolk in terms of charitable giving.

"How much are you giving?" reluctant businessmen would ask Pulley, a successful insurance executive.

Pulley led the fundraising to build a new Virginia Beach General Hospital on First Colonial Road in the 1960s. In the 1980s, he helped raise

$2.64 million for the Virginia Marine Science Museum. He negotiated a deal to cajole 12 acres for a Boys Club off Princess Anne Road.

"He participated in so much of the early development of this city," said Dr. John P. Clarke, a longtime friend. "He had a superb touch with fundraising."

And charitable organizations knew it. He was usually committed on too many fronts, but he wouldn't refuse a request.

For many years, Pulley was half of a good-natured rivalry for Beach fundraising king, with the late Dr. John J. Krueger.

They were opposites in their manner. Krueger was blunt - once locked the doors in a meeting hall and refused to let people leave until they donated money.

"Brad was a little more gentle," said Dr. Lawrence Smith.

Arriving in a dark Buick, wearing a dark felt hat and a dark suit, he broached the issue of giving only at the end of a long, unassuming conversation.

"It was never as if he was badgering you," Clarke said.

"He was vitally interested in people; he was genuine."

The funeral for Brad Pulley is at 2 p.m. today at First Presbyterian Church of Virginia Beach.

John Warren, (757) 221-5114, john.warren@pilotonline.com