Liz Claiborne
Anne Elisabeth Jane Claiborne (March 31, 1929 – June 26, 2007) was a pioneering American fashion designer and entrepreneur.
She rose to prominence by creating fashionable, affordable clothing for career-driven women, focusing on versatile, color-coordinated separates that could be easily combined.
Claiborne co-founded Liz Claiborne Inc., which, in 1986, became the first company established by a woman to make it onto the Fortune 500 list. She also made history as the first woman to hold the roles of chair and CEO within a Fortune 500 corporation.
Liz Claiborne Wiki
Born Name: Anne Elisabeth Jane Claiborne
Birth Date: March 31, 1929
Place Of Birth: Brussels, Belgium
Died On: June 26, 2007 (aged 78)
New York City, U.S.
Nationality: American
Education: Fine Arts School and Painters Studio, Belgium (1947)
Nice Academy (1948)
Label: Liz Claiborne
Spouses: Ben Shultz (m. 1950; div. 1954), Arthur Ortenberg (m. 1957)
Relatives: Jennifer Farber (niece)
Personal life, retirement and death
Claiborne’s first marriage was to Ben Shultz but they divorced in 1954 after she met Arthur Ortenberg. She and Arthur which was her colleague at the time, married in 1957. Claiborne had a son from her first marriage which is Alexander G. Shultz and gained two stepchildren, Neil and Nancy Ortenberg, through her second marriage.
In 1989, Claiborne stepped down from her management role, by which time she had expanded her company by acquiring other brands like Kayser-Roth known for producing Liz Claiborne accessories. Her husband, Arthur, also retired, allowing the remaining founders to lead the company’s operations.
In retirement, Claiborne and Ortenberg launched a foundation that provided substantial funding to environmental initiatives, including PBS’s “Nature” series and various conservation projects worldwide. Claiborne was honored with an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design.
In May 1997, she was diagnosed with a rare cancer affecting the abdomen’s lining. Claiborne passed away on June 26, 2007, at the age of 78, due to this illness.
