Paul Stuart president and ceo of Clifford Grodd died on Tuesday at his home in Manhattan.
Grodd’s career at Paul Stuart began in 1951, at the 45th Street and Madison Avenue store, according to The New York Times. Under his direction, Paul Stuart transitioned into selling its own label and making a name for itself by developing a style that one fashion writer called a blend of “Savile Row, Connecticut living and the concrete canyons of New York.” “Fashion is peripheral to us,” Grodd told The New York Times in 1978. “Our clothes are our own thing — classic and traditional without a style but with an attitude, perhaps a dash of salt.”
He’s also credited with becoming one of the first retailers to open stores in Japan, when Paul Stuart formed a licensing deal with Mitsui in the 1970s. Today, the company operates three stand-alone locations in Japan and 70 shop-in-shops. In 1995, the brand opened its second U.S. store, in Chicago.
Grodd was born on April 27, 1924, in New Haven. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and was shot down over Hungary in 1944. He was held in a prison camp near Munich until the camp was liberated in 1945. He was awarded the Purple Heart. After the war, he returned to his studies at the University of Connecticut, graduating in 1948 with a degree in marketing. In 1946 he married Barbara Ostrove, whose father, Ralph, had founded Paul Stuart.
Grodd’s retail career began at Hartford department store, G. Fox, where he served as assistant manager of the sportswear department. He joined Paul Stuart in the early 1950s and was appointed president and ceo in 1955, a position he held until his death.
Grodd is survived by his wife Barbara; brother, Arthur; two children, James and Patricia; and two grandchildren.