Obituary: Carol Lee “Kelli” (Brummer) Questrom

March 10, 1943 – December 22, 2025

Stylish, whip-smart and a natural social connector, Kelli Questrom lived a life defined by her vivid imagination, tremendous attention to detail and an unwavering commitment to making the world a better place.
As a public relations professional, Kelli was a master of creative promotions and winning campaigns that had lasting impact. She worked with the Mayor of New York on the celebratory renaming of Seventh Avenue to Fashion Avenue, and organized transformative arts festivals for the City of Atlanta. Kelli also tapped into a deep-seated sense of civics by orchestrating major fundraisers for organizations working to end homelessness and fight AIDS, and underwrote educational initiatives in museums and universities across America.
Through it all, Kelli steadfastly supported the rising career of her husband of 58 years, Allen Questrom. In Kelli, Allen — an accomplished retail executive who served as CEO of Federated Department Stores, Neiman Marcus, Barneys New York and JCPenney — found the perfect partner. That was true both in the active life they shared together — with regular world travels, and ski trips and hikes in their beloved Aspen hills — and in their many business and civic activities.
“We love each other and are also close friends,” Allen said in a 2016 interview the couple did with his alma mater, Boston University. “Kelli has been a sounding board to me, tells me all the things I do wrong, but at the same time why I’m such a terrific person!”
“He’s had a sign over his desk for his entire career that says, ‘There’s no end to what you can achieve if you don’t mind who gets the credit,'” Kelli added. “So I let him have all the credit!”
On December 22, 2025, Kelli passed away in Dallas following an extended illness. She was 82 years old.
Carol Lee “Kelli” Brummer was born on March 10, 1943, in New York City and grew up in Denver. Blessed with a creative streak, Kelli pursued a marketing, communications and journalism program at Russell Sage College in Upstate New York on a full scholarship. Throughout college, she played guitar and sang in clubs to earn a few extra dollars.
A college marketing professor, impressed with Kelli’s natural abilities, suggested she explore the junior executive training program at Abraham & Strauss (A&S) in New York — at the time, a major division of the Federated Department Stores chain. That internship turned into a full-time job as director of youth marketing at A&S, where she produced fashion shows and wrote ads. And it was there, in the mid-1960s, that she met Allen — then a buyer for the company — in the A&S lunchroom.
“I thought, ‘Wow, what a great looking guy. I think I could kill two birds with one stone. I could get my free boom boxes for a draw for the fashion show and meet this character.'” She wooed him with daily treats, leaving a cup of Chock full o’Nuts coffee and his favorite pastries on his desk. Kelli and Allen soon become an item, marrying on September 9, 1967 in Allen’s hometown of Waltham, Massachusetts.
Being married meant Kelli could also occasionally raid Allen’s extensive closet, which led to one of her most fortuitous encounters. In the mid-1970s, having left A&S to join Mademoiselle magazine as fashion editor and public relations director, Kelli was invited to attend a show for Ralph Lauren.
“I happened to be standing there wearing a polo Ralph Lauren men’s shaker sweater and a pair of trousers,” recalled Kelli. “And I’d had the waist taken in with big pleats — I loved that tailored look with sexy high heels and a sexy belt and a fedora.” When she went on stage to shake hands with the designer, he asked where she’s gotten the clothes — and within a few short years, she was helping to market Ralph Lauren’s new women’s line. “He later designed for the Annie Hall movie. And he was fond of saying, ‘The first woman who looked like Annie Hall when I met her was Kelli Questrom!'”
As Allen moved up in his retail career — living and working, at various times, in New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Dallas — Kelli, ever the creative spirit, found ways to reinvent herself. “I had to find a new job, reposition my career and also find out what it was like to become a full partner with my husband,” she said. “Doing all the civic involvement that a department store CEO was expected to do and he didn’t have time for.” It was a role that came naturally to Kelli.
In Atlanta (from 1978 to 1984), while Allen led the Rich’s department stores, Kelli served as vice-president and creative director for Burton-Campbell, then the city’s largest advertising agency, where she conceived and produced many of the city’s most successful public events, including a high-profile concert and fundraising auction with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. When the couple moved to Los Angeles in 1984 — thanks to Allen’s new job as CEO and Chairman of the Bullock’s department store — Kelli found herself a central figure in L.A.’s civic life. Among other initiatives, she co-founded the Greater Los Angeles Partnership for the Homeless, resulting in the establishment of L.A.’s Downtown Women’s Center.
By the mid-1980s, Kelli had a scare with breast cancer — which inspired her to leave her PR career and turn full-time to civic engagements. In Dallas (where the couple moved in 1988, as Allen led the turnaround of Neiman Marcus), Kelli and Allen became big supporters of local cultural institutions such as the Dallas Museum of Art, where she served many years as a trustee. Kelli also took a particular interest in the charity Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA) — serving on the inaugural DIFFA board in the 1990s, at the height of the pandemic.
Allen would make several more moves — to lead Federated Stores through most of the 1990s, and then to Barneys later in the decade — before returning to Dallas to steer JCPenney’s turnaround in 2000. After Allen’s official retirement in 2005, the couple split their time between Dallas and Aspen. Among Kelli’s proudest achievements was designing or restoring the 12 homes they shared over the years — including a Bauhaus structure previously owned by Motown’s Berry Gordy, and a Hollywood Hills house, which Kelli renovated extensively, later purchased by Madonna.
The last two decades of their marriage were also marked by a growing commitment to philanthropy. In addition to her work with the Dallas Museum of Art, Kelli also served as a trustee of the Aspen Art Museum and the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. Through the Allen and Kelli Questrom Foundation, the couple endowed educational programing at both museums, along with free guided tours for students at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.
For Kelli, the passion for art education went back to her early days in New York, as a volunteer running educational children’s programs at the Whitney. As she explained in announcing a 2012 gift to the Aspen Art Museum: “Art museums are essential environments for learning, equipped to teach not just painting and drawing but, more importantly, how to think creatively and to apply one’s latent talent to any vocation or occupation.”
That commitment to education was also evident in the couple’s longstanding relationship with Boston University. Starting with a gift in 2007 to endow a deanship and professorship, followed by a 2010 gift to fund two more professorships, the Questroms made an historic $50-million gift in 2015 that led to the renaming of the Questrom School of Business. “This is a singular moment in the history of the school and the University,” said then-president Robert A. Brown. “The Questroms have raised our sights on the impact of philanthropy at Boston University.”
Despite her many commitments, Kelli always took time to enjoy the great outdoors — including during a 10-month sabbatical that Allen took in 1984 when the couple toured and skied around the globe. Kelli is survived by Allen, her sisters-in-law Judi Hernon and Alicia McHugh, and numerous nieces, nephews and friends. A private service with the family is being planned for Waltham.