Clarence Cecil Bessellieu Jr. died October 30 in Miami, following complications of a stroke. He was 80.
Bessellieu was born in Wilmington, N.C. on May 2, 1929, and served in the Navy during the Korean War, before embarking on a four decade-long career in visual merchandising. His first job was with Sears-Roebuck in Richmond, Va., working in merchandise signage and window display. He then went to Jackson’s Byrons in Miami, where he also designed floats for the Orange Bowl Parade for the Vaughn Displays Company. In 1959, Bessellieu joined the Belk-Lindsey Group in Orlando and later Belk Store Services corporate office in Charlotte, N.C., where he led interior planning and eventually was promoted as the retailer’s first director of visual merchandising. After a 34 year career with Belk, he retired in 1993.
In 1982, the National Retail Merchants Association (NRMA) honored him as Visual Merchandiser of the Year in recognition of his “outstanding ability in exercising the functions of retail visual merchandising and the willingness to enhance the field and art of the profession.” He was inducted into the Society for Visual Merchandisers in 1984, serving as its chairman for many years, and in 1985, the National Association of Display Industries (NADI) Hall of Fame.
Bessellieu is survived by his third wife, Maria; his son Steven, daughter-in-law Ana and granddaughter Lindsey; his son Thomas, daughter-in-law Amy and grandsons Graham and Luke; his brother Robert and sister-in-law Madelon; his brother Gerald; his sister Mary Bessellieu Morse and daughter by marriage Potyra Rosa of Rio de Janeiro.