LEWISTON – Michael Danyla Jr., 86, of Schooner Estates, 200 Stetson Road, Auburn, formerly of Albany, N.Y., died Monday, July 4, at Ste. Marguerite d’Youville Pavilion.

He was born in Troy, N.Y., on Aug. 13, 1918, the son of Michael and Tekla Opar Danyla Sr. He was a graduate of the Bell Top School of North Greenbush, when it was a one-room schoolhouse, as well as a graduate of Troy High School. At St. Lawrence University, he was pledged to the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and was a columnist for the weekly Hill News.

An advertising agency copy writer for most of his career, he worked earlier as a reporter for the Albany Times Union and the Troy Record, as well as a script writer at WOKO and WABY, and as an all media copy writer at Albany ad agencies Goldman and Walter, the Phil Voss Agency and in Schenectady, N.Y., at the George R. Nelson Agency.

Later he joined the national ad agency of Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborn, and was a TV and radio commercial writer in BBDO offices in New York, Cleveland and Boston, as well as serving subsequent stints at the Cabot and Reach McClinton agencies in Boston.

Returning to Albany, N.Y., in 1972, he joined the Tom Carroll Ad and Public Relations Agency and handled accounts such as the New York State Police PBA, Greene County Tourism and Economic Development, Gideon Putnam Hotel, Saratoga and an association of Adirondack Mountain attractions. Prior to his illness, he was a part-time associate in an information unit of the New York state division of the Budget.

He was married to Mildred Foshay, who predeceased him. He lived at Schooner Estates for five and a half years.

He is survived by a son, Mark Danyla and his wife, Karen, of Auburn; a daughter, Linda Wood of Charlotte, N.C.; as well as two grandchildren, Todd Wood of Falls Church, Va., and Lauren Wood of Charlotte, N.C.

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