IN MEMORIAM
Alfred J. Audi of
L. & J.G. Stickley
Alfred J. Audi, president of L. & J. G. Stickley Furniture, Inc. for over three decades, succumbed to cancer in September at his home in Fayetteville, NY. He was 69.
Born in Brooklyn, Audi initially served as president of the furniture business his father had founded in 1928. He married Aminy Inati in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1963.
The L. & J. G. Stickley company was founded in 1900 and inspired by the American Arts and Crafts pioneer, Gustav Stickley. In 1974, Louise Stickley, widow of Gustav’s brother Leopold, called Audi as her business faced bankruptcy, saying, “Alfred, you’re the only one who loves Stickley enough to keep its quality—would you buy it?” Audi purchased the company, which then employed 22 people. Together with Aminy, he revived the firm, eventually building a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Manlius, NY. Today, Stickley distributes its products internationally and has over 1600 employees, whom Audi considered an extended family. He always credited Stickley’s worldwide success to their skills and work ethic.
In 1989, the Audis’ decision to revive the Mission Oak collection helped propel the Craftsman style back into the national consciousness. In recent years, Alfred Audi was recognized with an honorary doctorate from Colgate University, and with the International Furnishings and Design Association’s Laurel Award for “…furthering the Arts and Crafts movement in America.”
Herman Zuckerman, Collector
Dr. Herman Charles Zuckerman, a gentleman, a scholar, and a lover of ceramics and glass, died in November at the age of 93. Well-known as a pioneer of mammography, he was the sole user, teacher, and writer on the subject from 1954–1962. He lectured and taught around the world into his 70s, and continued to practice until age 83.
With Janice, his wife of 57 years, Dr. Zuckerman built
a significant collection of American and European pottery, porcelain and glass, developing a sensitive understanding of design and glazes. “We didn’t buy what was ‘important,’” recalls Janice. “We bought what was beautiful to us. It led us
to a lot of different people, a lot of different homes—it was quite enriching, beyond the pieces themselves.” A founding member of the Ceramic Arts Society and a generous contributor to museum shows and to publications about ceramics, Dr. Zuckerman was also widely loved for his soft-spoken, self-deprecating demeanor and for his disarming sense of humor.
