Ad Exec's 3 Daughters Die in Savage Conn. Blaze

'Help me! Help me!' pleaded Madonna Badger
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 26, 2011 4:13 AM CST
Ad Wiz Tried to Save 3 Daughters From Savage Conn. Blaze
Madonna Badger, founded Badger and Winters Group, poses in her New York office in 1998. Her parents and three young daughters perished in a horrific Christmas Day fire in Stamford.   (AP Photo/Jim Cooper, File)

The marketing brain behind Calvin Klein's Marky Mark underwear ads was one of only two survivors who made it out of yesterday's horrific Connecticut home blaze that killed her parents and three young daughters. Madonna Badger, 47, and a male friend escaped the roaring inferno that erupted before dawn in Badger's sprawling Stamford home, but firefighters were "pushed back by intense flame and heat" and were unable to save her parents and daughters Lily, 9, and twins Sarah and Grace, 7. A next-door neighbor, awakened by the bright light of the flames and Badger screaming "Help me, help me," tried to run into the home to save the children but was rebuffed by the flames, reports the New York Daily News.

Badger was "completely distraught," said neighbor Fern Loeb. "It's horrible." A relative called the children "a joy; they were full of life and energy.” Fire inspectors are still seeking the cause of the blaze. Badger, who recently split from her husband and moved from Manhattan to the $1.7 million home, founded the Badger and Winters Group, a fashion consulting firm with clients including Chanel and Armani Exchange. She helped create the iconic Marky Mark ads for Calvin Klein, among several other notable campaigns. (More Madonna Badger stories.)

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