Staunch defender.

When veteran rock and roll publicist and manager Ronnie Lippin died last week at the age of 59, most of the obituaries focused on her starry client list that included Eric Clapton (for more than 25 years), Elton John and the Bee Gees.

The president of L.A.'s Lippin Group was such a fixture on the music scene she was cited as a model for the manager Bobbi Fleckman in the film "Spinal Tap." The Brooklyn, N.Y., native got into music publicity when she moved to Los Angeles with her husband, Dick Lippin, three decades ago.

Though her demeanor could be Zen-like, she was a fierce defender of artists' rights.

"I never want to compromise ethical standards," she said recently of her approach to public relations. "It can be a lonely road once in a while. We don't accept every client who asks us about representation, and there are some relationships that are relatively short-lived."

She and her husband have passed on some of their ethical insights to the next generation of publicists by sparking debates at the university level. The couple helped start an ethics program at Brandeis University in Massachusetts and a course at Penn State University.

"It no longer matters how people get from point A to point B," explained Lippin of her rationale for reaching out to youth. She uses the proliferation of file-swapping services used by college students as an example: "Essentially they're stealing from a performer."

At the time of her death, she was president of the Lippin Group. She is survived by her husband and a daughter, Alexandra, who also works for the Lippin Group.