Meet Mary Cunningham
Is the former Bendix executive still a victim of corporate politics?

BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE | Parade
WRITTEN BY LISA BIRNBACH
PUBLISHED IN BOSTON, MA | April 25,1982

On Sept. 24, 1980, William Agee, chairman of the nation's 88th largest company—The Bendix Corporation, in Southfield, Mich.—explained to a meeting of 600 employees and members of the press why the board of directors was promoting a 29-year-old executive to the post of vice president for strategic planning: "The contribution that Mary Cunningham has made to this company in the 15 months she has been here has been outstanding," he said. "That's the basis for her rapid rise. At the same time, I tell you with the same conviction, it is true we are very, very close friends, and she's a very close friend of my family. But that has absolutely nothing to do with the way that I or others in this company and on the board evaluate her performance." Some published reports seized on Agee's statement and implied that Cunningham's promotion had grown out of a sexual relationship between them. Two weeks later, Cunningham resigned, fueling the furor that had suddenly made her a symbol of sex discrimination in the workplace. Through it all, Cunningham herself has said little about the event and its aftermath. We asked author Lisa Birnbach to interview Mary Cunningham at length to discover who she is and what happened to her.