Seabourn President Suffers Fatal Heart Attack

[Jason]

Seabourn President Deborah L. Natansohn Suffers Fatal Heart Attack

Pioneer Female Cruise Industry Executive

MIAMI, Oct. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Deborah L. Natansohn, the president and chief operating officer of Seabourn Cruise Line, passed away on October 24 at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with her family at her side. Natansohn, 53, had been hospitalized after suffering a heart attack on Sunday, October 22.

Natansohn was appointed president of Seabourn Cruise Line in July of 2004, and guided Seabourn to the most successful period in its history. That success recently led to the signing of a letter of intent for the company to build two new ships.

Natansohn came to Seabourn from Cunard Line, which she had joined in November 2000, as senior vice president of sales and marketing, responsible for marketing and sales programs throughout the Americas and for the unprecedented success of the launch of the Queen Mary 2.

A well-known travel industry veteran, Natansohn became the first female cruise line president in the United States when she was named president of Orient Lines in 1998. She also served as vice president of marketing for Ocean Cruise Lines and Pearl Cruises, and as executive vice president at Orient Lines from 1992 until she became the line's president.

She began her career as a journalist and was an editor with Travel Trade magazine. She spent five years in London as director of marketing for Travellers International, and for the tour company Arthur Frommer International. In addition, Natansohn had chaired the marketing committee and served on the executive committee for the industry organization Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). In 2004, a nationwide poll of professional travel agents voted her Travel Trade's Travel Executive of the Year.

In 2006, Natansohn was honored with a Glass Ceiling Award by the Jewish Museum of Florida, and was named one of Florida's top 50 women business leaders by The Center for Leadership at Florida International University.

A native New Yorker, Natansohn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Journalism from the State University of New York, Albany, and had participated in the executive education program at Harvard Business School. She was the president of The Commonwealth Institute, South Florida, a peer counseling group for executive women, a member of the International Women's Forum, and was a participant in the Miami Dade School District's Executive PASS program, which matches local chief executives with public school principals to further the success of their schools.