Ornetta Barber, the first African-American female marketing executive at Warner Elektra Atlantic Corp. (WEA), died of metastatic cancer on April 3 in Los Angeles.
She was 71."Ornetta was a woman with brains, beauty, kindness and a smile that would light up the world,” Epic Records chairman/CEO Sylvia Rhone posted on Facebook. “She never displayed anything but positivity.
I remember the day that she started at WEA and continued on to be the highest-ranking black woman there—a true trailblazer.”In another post on Barber’s Facebook page, Linda Moran, president of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, added, "Ornetta was one of the most beautiful souls I have ever known in my life.