Letter: Lillian Vernon was a local success story

Re "Catalog creator Vernon dies in NYC at age 88," Dec. 16 article:

Lillian Vernon was a pioneer in business who employed hundreds to thousands of people in Westchester. From warehouses in Mount Vernon, Elmsford and Port Chester and offices in Mount Vernon, then New Rochelle, Rye and finally White Plains. She hired people at decent wages and promoted from within.

She hired top-notch people who also resided in the county. These people bought houses, raised families, and with Lillian's help supported Westchester charities. She was the first woman to own a company publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Lillian escaped the Nazis to Amsterdam and later came to New York. Her brother gave his life fighting for this country in World War II. Her parents were here with her starting from scratch and became well known in the garment industry.

After Lillian married, to earn some extra money she used $2,000 of her wedding money and sold a monogrammed pocketbook and matching belts from her Mount Vernon apartment. The rest, as they say, is history. She traveled the globe to find products she knew people would buy. She had what she referred to as a “golden gut.” Eventually, Lillian tired of the long roadtrips and sold the business to Zelnick Media for a reported $60.5 million.

She was always interested in charities. Lillian personally knew the people who worked for her, a quality long gone in business today.

She loved this country and what the country gave back to her. An amazing woman, she will be greatly missed.

Robert Kraft

New Rochelle