Former Luxottica govt Ed Jankowski died Saturday at his residence in Pompano Seashore, Fla., on the age of 72.
He had battled prostate most cancers for the previous 5 years, in response to his niece Jamie Jankowski, whom he mentored and is now senior director of design and merchandising at Brahmin USA.
Daily since that prognosis, Ed Jankowski “fought with a smile on his face” and would advise others, “‘Don’t depend the times. Make the times depend,’” his niece stated Monday. His zeal for that motto was so unwavering that he obtained his first tattoo with these phrases on his 72nd birthday in July.
A celebration of life for Jankowski is being deliberate in Westchester County, N.Y., for December, and one other celebration of life will probably be held in Pompano Seashore in January. Per his needs, a cremation is going down.
A member of the Equipment Council Corridor of Fame, the New York govt labored for a number of trend and equipment firms together with Luxottica’s Luxurious Retail Group, the place he was vp and basic supervisor. In that publish, he oversaw Ilori Optical, Optical Store of Aspen and Persol shops, creating new prototypes and broadening its footprint within the U.S. and Canada. In recent times, Jankowski labored as a marketing consultant. Earlier than that, he served as chief govt officer of XpresSpa, constructing upon the chain’s airport places Stateside and in Europe.
Born in Kingston, N.Y., to an IBM govt and a homemaker, he and his 4 siblings had been raised in Mahopac, N.Y. After attending Rider School in New Jersey, the style-minded Jankowski, whose apparel was all the time pristine, as had been his manicures, set out for a profession in trend and equipment. His niece stated, “The joke within the household was ‘Uncle Ed solely makes use of Gucci bathroom paper.’ That was from the time he was 13.”
A self-starter, Jankowski networked his means into the business, whereas sustaining a meticulous eye on the main points of trend, merchandising and shops, his niece stated. One in all his first jobs was at Liz Claiborne, the place he as soon as introduced her as a 12-year-old to the corporate’s “Take Your Daughter to Work Day.” One other one in every of Jankowski’s early posts was at World Obligation Free Americas. Throughout his profession, Jankowski additionally labored at Solstice Sunglass Boutique, a division of Safilo, and Godiva Chocolatier.
A pure connector throughout totally different industries, Jankowski knew find out how to discuss to folks and understood the artwork of the schmooze, his niece stated. Bigger-than-life and kind-hearted, the equipment specialist served on the board of administrators for the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising, or LIM School, and was a previous advisory board member on the Style Institute of Expertise — Equipment.
The Equipment Council’s president and CEO Karen Giberson stated Jankowski first obtained concerned with the group, which is greater than 30 years outdated, in its early days. Jankowski tried to give up the council, when he joined Godiva in an govt position. “We stated, ‘Ed, you’ll be able to’t give up,’ and he stated, ‘Karen, it’s not a trend or equipment firm.’ We justified that by saying, ‘Look, there’s not a trendy counter that doesn’t have chocolate on the checkout and Godiva is the good merchandise for that,’” Giberson recalled Monday.
“He got here again to me a few days later and stated, ‘OK, chocolate is an adjunct that we put on on our hips,’” she stated. “That was Ed. He was all the time making you snigger. When a mutual good friend was being honored at an occasion, he was the one main the cheer. He stood up and obtained the entire room chanting. He was the get together chief.”
As soon as the New York celebration of life is held, Tito’s drinks will “undoubtedly be served” to visitors, since Jankowski was such a fan that the liquor firm sponsored a celebration in his honor in 2015, Giberson stated.
Jankowski, whose first marriage resulted in divorce, married his husband Patrick Van Den Berg in 2002. Predeceased by his brother Ron, Jankowski is survived by his husband, his sister Mary Pfiel and brothers James and Frederick, in addition to two grandsons and different kinfolk.
