Agent Advocate Jeanne Epping Dies

Former ASTA president and well-known agent advocate Jeanne Epping has died. Epping, who was 85, entered the travel agency business in 1964, when she purchased Whitehead Travel in Santa Cruz, Calif. She was elected president of ASTA in 1995, arguing passionately on behalf of agents when the airlines moved to cap commissions that same year.

“Jeanne contributed so much to the travel agency community. She was an agent’s agent, one of the first female leaders of the agency community,” said Anne Marie Moebes, co-publisher of Travel Market Report. “She was a mentor of mine, and a mentor to many.” Epping died at home in Santa Cruz on Nov. 15.