Patricia Upton, of Southampton, licensing agent for 'Peanuts,' dies at 86

Patricia Upton smashed the ceiling of branding with merchandise tied to the "Peanuts" comic strip, long before mega licensing, when she helped develop a clothing line for Snoopy as the Red Baron, Joe Cool and other figures, her family said.

"Plush Snoop, Woodstock and other dolls were everywhere, as were T-shirts, banners, and related items," said her son, Jeff Upton, of Milton, Massachusetts. "This was a huge development in licensing, as no one before had thought of ways to leverage a purchase of a branded item by offering add-on accessories."

Upton was often called a trailblazer and female role model, from the days of being the only woman in the room to the emerging world of e-publishing, her relatives said.

At one point in the 1960s, she was the only female buyer at the Fifth Avenue flagship of Bonwit Teller, the luxury department store, where her confidence was boosted by tending to famous figures such as Jackie Onassis, they said. In the latter part of her career, she set e-publishing industry rules.

As a licensing agent, Upton represented the creators of "Felix the Cat," American Girl dolls and "Peanuts." Upton, a Southampton resident, died July 11. She was 86.

One longtime client called Upton a "closer" because her network was huge and she got the deals done.

"I thought of her as a lady’s lady," said Cynthia Hart, an author, designer and artist who became her client decades ago. "She always seemed to know what to say and what to do. She had a very ladylike power to connect with people and companies."

Upton had signed on with Determined Productions, the licensor of the "Peanuts" brand, then started Pat Upton and Associates in 1982 and finished her career with Workman Publishing, known for its Page-A-Day calendars.

"Her idea was ‘How big could you make it?’ " said her daughter, Kathleen Upton Finch, of Southampton. "She was never crass about slapping an image on anything that would sell. She was very thoughtful about it, very strategic."

Woe betide the manufacturers of merchandise knockoffs. Even on family vacations, Upton Finch remembers, her mother could spot a fake Snoopy, buy it, cut it open to find the manufacturer's information, and send cease-and-desist letters. This fierce protection earned her the trust of her clients, her daughter said.

Growing up in what was then the rural of town of Stockton, California, Pat fell in love with business while working summers with her father at a hardware store, said her brother, Jim Sloneker, of Danville, California.

But it was a trip to Europe that opened her eyes to life’s possibilities the summer before she started college, he said.

"She came back grown up," Sloneker recalled. "She came back with a whole new perspective for the world and what was going on."

She was involved in theater at Mills College in Oakland, California, where she was working on a business degree, when Robert Upton auditioned for a role.

Pat and Robert got engaged on their second date and married the day she graduated in 1960, Upton Finch said: "They’re each other’s biggest cheerleaders."

Moving from San Francisco to Greenwich Village in 1966, the couple did not stint on discussing serious world topics with their two little children at the dinner table. Vietnam War protests were family affairs as they held black candles marching down Fifth Avenue.

"Both of my parents treated my sister and me as little adults," Jeff Upton said.

It was the lack of equality that prompted Patricia Upton to leave Bonwit Teller. She was the senior buyer for the children’s department, the sole female among the store’s buyers, her family said, and she came home complaining about men picking out everything for women’s departments, hurting sales.

"She was a real Gloria Steinem feminist, and she would get very upset when mail would come to her addressed as ‘Mrs. Robert Upton,’ ” her daughter said.

All her life, Upton embraced much that was new, from the answering machine to the cellphone, so it was no different when e-publishing emerged. With her quick learning, she became the "go-to resource" on copyright, royalty and licensing issues, her family said, and she was involved in class-action lawsuits and negotiations, including with Amazon.

"She never thought of herself as being old," Upton Finch said, "and she never thought she shouldn’t be doing anything."

Her family plans to commemorate her at a later date by scattering her ashes into the waters off her home.

In addition to her husband, son, daughter and brother, Upton is survived by her sister, Jane Best, of Davis, California; and five grandchildren.